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NEVADA: 



THE 



LAND OF SILVER. 



V 

JOHN J. POWELL, 



AUTHOR OF 




"^tie (golden ^tate h^i. it^ ffe^oufde^." 



,V OK CO/v~^^ 

P uoJki.phH 



SAN FRANCISCO: 
BACON & COMPANY, BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS; 

Corner Clay and Sansome Streets. 

I 876. 

7r 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred 

and seventy-six, 

By JOHN J. POWELL, 

In the OflSce of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C 






ERRATA. 

Pago 45.— For the years 1873, 1874 and 1875, the product of the whole 
State is given, instead of the product of the Comstock Lode. 

For the year 1873, instead of $35,254,507, it should bo $23,216,002. 

1874, " $35,452,233, " $23,051,496. 

1875, " $40,478,369, " $24,885,617. 

Page 248. — "Reno is neither a mining town nor a County Seat." It 
should be : Reno is the County Seat of Washoe County, and mining is carried 
on extensively in its neighborhood. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 1 

Nevada ^ 

Boundaries, Area, etc 7 

Physical Aspect , 8 

General Geology 10 

Political Divisions, Age, etc 12 

Historical Sketch 13 

Natural Resources 21 

Mineral Wealth 24 

Early Discovery ■> 24 

The Rush 26 

Physical and Geological Characteristics of the District containing 

the Comstock Lode 27 

Structure of the Lode in Detail 30 

Analyses of Comstock Ore 37 

Resume of Conclusions Concerning the Lode 42 

Mining 48 

Mode of Extracting the Precious Metals from the Ore 51 

General Method of Exploitation 51 

Stope Timbering 53 

Ore Extraction 55 

Crushing 55 

Grinding and Amalgamation 57 

Settlers or Separators 61 

Retorting and Melting 63 

The First Mill 64 

A List of Quartz and Tailing Mills in Lyon, Ormsby, and Storey 

Counties 66 

Lyon County 66 

Ormsby County 67 

Storey County 68 



IV CONTENTS. 

A Sketch op the Principal Silver Mines in Nevada 71 

Ophir 71 

Consolidated Virginia and California 73 

Probable Permanence and Prospective Production 93 

Superintendent's Report 97 

Secretary's Report 99 

Inventory of Property 101 

Gould & Curry 101 

Savage 103 

Hale & Norcross 106 

Yellow Jacket 107 

Crown Point 109 

Belcher 113 

Sierra Nevada 115 

Chollar-Potosi. . , 116 

Overman 118 

Imperial-Empire 118 

Bullion 119 

Caledonia 119 

Other Mines 120 

The Sdtro Tunnel 121 

Central and Eastern Nevada 127 

Humboldt District 128 

White & Shiloh Mine 129 

Eagle Mine 129 

Reese River District 130 

Oregon Mine 131 

South America Mine , 132 

New Pacific Mine 132 

Eureka District 133 

Richmond Consolidated Mine 134 

Eureka Consolidated Mine 136 

Ruby Consolidated Mine 136 

Smelting Furnaces 137 

Cost of Extracting Ores 139 

White Pine District 140 

Pioche District 141 

Raymond & Ely Mine 142 

Meadow Valley Mine 143 

Belmont District 144 

Belmont Mine 145 

Monitor-Belmont Mine 146 

El Dorado South 146 

Cornucopia District 147 

Leopard Mine 148 

Placer Mines 150 

Mining Laws 153 



CONTENTS. V 

MnsTEBAX, Deposits 169 

Copper 169 

Iron Ore 171 

Coal 171 

El Dorado Canon Coal Mines 172 

Borax 173 

Hot Springs Borax Marsh 174 

Salt Wells Borax Marsh 174 

Antimony 175 

Soda 178 

Salt 178 

Eagle Salt Marsh 179 

Sand Springs Salt Marsh ^...179 

Spaulding's Salt Marsh * . . . 179 

Muddy Salt Mines 180 

Williams' Salt Marsh 180 

Isinglass 181 

Sulphur 182 

Marble 183 

Sandstone 183 

List of Minerals from Esmeralda County 184 

List of Minerals from Reese River District, Lander County 185 

Agricultdkal Products 187 

Agricultural Products for 1874 187 

Fruit Trees 188 

Domestic Animals > 188 

Live Stock 188 

Improvements 189 

Climate 189 

Mountains, Valleys, Rivers, Lakes, etc 191 

Mountains 191 

Valleys 193 

Carson Valley 193 

Eagle Valley 194 

Washoe Valley 194 

Pleasant Valley 195 

Steamboat Valley 196 

Truckee Valley 196 

Long Valley 197 

Honey Lake Valley 197 

Surprise Valley 198 

Humboldt Valley 198 

Paradise Valley 198 

Pine Valley 199 

Ruby Valley 199 

Muddy Valley 199 

Other Valleys 200 



VI CONTENTS. 

Rivers 201 

Humboldt River 202 

Truckee River 203 

Carson River 203 

Walker River 204 

Reese River 205 

Owyhee River 205 

Lakes 206 

Lake Tahoe 207 

Pyramid Lake 208 

Winnemucca Lake 208 

Walker's Lake 209 

Carson Lake 209 

Humboldt Lake 210 

Upper and Lower Lakes 211 

Mud Lakes 211 

Thermal and Mineral Springs 212 

Steamboat Springs , . 212 

Smoky Valley Hot Springs 213 

Carey's Warm Spring 214 

Elko Hot Springs 215 

Cold Springs 215 

Land Laws 217 

Act for the Selection and Sale of Lands Granted by the United 

States 217 

Act Prescribing the Mode of Maintaining and Defending Posses- 
sory Action on Public Lands 230 

Act Providing for the Location of Lands Containing Salt 233 

Act Providing for the Location and Taxation of Borax and Soda 

Mines and Claims 234 

Cities op Nevada 237 

Virginia City 237 

Carson City 240 

Gold Hill 241 

Austin 243 

Pioche 245 

Eureka 246 

Elko 247 

Reno 248 

Belmont 249 

Winnemucca 250 

Bullionville 251 

Hamilton 252 

Raxluoads 255 

Central Pacific R. R 255 

Virginia and Truckee R. R 256 

Pioche and Bullionville R. R 257 

Eureka Mill R. R 257 

Eureka and Palisade R. R 258 



CONTENTS. Vll 

Flumes for the Transpoktation of Lusiber, Etc 259 

Water Ditches 259 

Maisufactures 261 

Union Iron Works 261 

Fulton Foundry 262 

Gold Hill Foundry 262 

Jewelry and Silverware 263 

Reduction Works 263 

Borax 264 

Tannery 265 

Social aptd Edccationax Condition 267 

Education • 268 

Amount in State School Fund 269 

State University 270 

Church Matters 271 

Episcopalians 271 

Methodist Episcopal 272 

Presbyterians 272 

Congregationalists 272 

Baptists 273 

Other Denominations 273 

Benevolent Associations 273 

Odd Fellows 273 

Masons 275 

Wages 27o 

BiographicUj Sketches 279 

Hon. John P. Jones .' 279 

Hon. William Sharon 281 

Appendix 289 

California Mining Co 289 

Superintendent's Report 289 

Secretary's Report 294 

Report of Prof. R. E. Rogers to the Director of the U. S. 

Miats, on the Bonanza Mines 295 

Belcher Mining Co ^ 301 

Carson Mint 302 

Reveille District 303 

Gila Mine 303 

Tybo District 305 

Tybo Consolidated Mine 305 



]NTI\0DUCTI0N: 



But a few years ago the territory comprising the 
State of Nevada was a terra incognita ! With the 
exception of a few trappers, who kept their informa- 
tion to themselves, no one knew anything about it. 
But, along with this prevailing ignorance, there was a 
general belief that Nevada was unproductive, dreary, 
desolate ; an arid waste, incapable of supporting a 
civilized community ; a sea of sand — the Sahara of 
America ! Happily this cloud of ignorance was, at 
length, dispelled. The enterprising miner penetrated 
the gloomy chaos, and disclosed a region which only 
twenty years ago was marked on our maps as " unex- 
plored," but is, to-day, one of the great treasure-vaults 
of the world. The skill, energy, and perseverance of 
the people of Nevada have demonstrated the fact that 
she has bones of silver and veins of gold. What used 
to be regarded as a worthless wilderness turns out to 
be a vast mine of incalculable wealth. Instead of 
monotonous plains of sand, we ftnd mountains of 
sparkling silver; and the State which was thought to 
give no promise to reward toil now pays in treasures 
compared with which even Oriental tales grow dull — 



2 INTRODUCTION. 

treasures which, permeating through Nevada's sister 
States, are not only enriching them, but also furnishing 
a base by which a nation's finances are regulated and 
controlled. Pre-eminently " The Laiid of Silver'"' 
Nevada has for years been considered by scientific 
men as the physical wonder of the world ; and for 
the last five years, or since she has outstripped all 
rivals in the production of the precious metals, the 
eyes of the commercial world have been fixed upon 
her ; for the vast treasures which have been drawn 
from her supposedly barren bosom have entered into 
all the channels of the world's trade — have invigorated 
agriculture, stimulated manufacture, and given quicker 
motion to the wings of commerce. 

To develop her vast mineral resources seems to be 
Nevada's destiny; and it is just as proper that she 
should exhume her silver as that Pennsylvania should 
dig her coal, or California crush out her gold. In her 
great work of silver production Nevada is but in her 
infancy, so to speak; and, notwithstanding the vast 
developments already known, new discoveries are 
being daily made, and will continue to be made for 
hundreds of years to come. 

But not in 7itiiieral wealth alone is Nevada surpris- 
ing those who thought they knew all her worth. Her 
pastoral and agricultural interests (of which she was 
considered entirely destitute) have risen to an import- 
ance never dreamed of The vast plains, until lately 
regarded as little better than barren wastes, are being 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

used for pastoral purposes ; and in many places beau- 
tiful gardens, fruitful fields of waving corn, and flour- 
ishing orchards and vineyards, attest the fact that the 
agricultural interests of Nevada were never before so 
prosperous and encouraging. 

To aid and expedite the development of the various 
resources of Nevada, by supplying much needed in- 
formation as to their extent and accessibility, and to 
indicate where capital will find profitable investment, 
is the design of this book. It is written from personal 
knowledge of the matters of which it treats, so far as 
this is attainable ; and this has been supplemented by 
valuable information kindly supplied by reliable per- 
sons prominently connected with the various industries 
of the State. In its preparation, free use has been 
made of all the best authorities, to whom we cheerfully 
acknowledge our indebtedness. Among those con- 
sulted are Clarence King's " Geological Explorations 
of the Fortieth Parallel"; J. Ross Browne's " Resources 
of the Pacific Slope " ; the reports of Messrs. Stretch, 
White, and Whitehill, State Mineralogists ; the joint 
report of Special Commissioners J. Ross Browne and 
James W. Taylor ; and the report of Baron Rich- 
thofen. 




" Sphinx, down whose rugged face 
The sliding centuries their furrows cleave, 
By sun, and frost, and cloud-burst — scarce to leave 

Perceptible a trace 

Of age or sorrow — 
Faint tints of yesterdays with no to-morrow — 
My mind regards thee with a questioning eye, 

To know thy secret high. 

"If Theban mystery, 
With head of woman, soaring, bird-like wings. 
And serpent's tail on lion's track, were things 

Puzzling in history : 

And men invented 
For it an origin which represented 
Chimera and a monster double-headed, 

By myths Phoenician wedded — 

"Their issue being this — 
This most chimerical and wondrous thing — 
From whose dumb mouth not even the gods could wring 

Truth, nor antitheses : 

Then, what I think is, 
This creature — being chief among men's sphinxes — 
Is eloquent, and overflows with story." 



NEVADA. 



Nevada — a Spanish name, signifying w/iz/e as snow 
— lies between the thirty-fifth and forty-second degrees 
of north latitude, and between the one hundred and 
fourteenth and one hundred and twentieth degrees of 
longitude, west of Greenwich. She is bounded on the 
north by Oregon and Idaho, on the east by Utah and 
Arizona, and on the west and south by California, 
whose boundary line, from the thirty-ninth degree of 
latitude, stretches across the southern part of Nevada 
in a . southeasterly direction. She is, therefore, 420 
miles long and 360 wide, at her greatest dimensions, 
and has an area of 112,090 square miles, equal to 
71,737,600 acres, of which 690 square miles, or 441,600 
acres, are covered, during some portion of the year, by 
her numerous lakes, leaving an area of 71,296,000 
acres for utilization. These figures, however, will give 
but an indefinite idea of the territory they represent, 
unless we compare them with the areas of States 



8 NEVADA, 

known to our readers. For this purpose we select the 
following States : New York, 47,000 square miles ; 
Vermont, 10,212; New Hampshire. 9,280; Massachu- 
setts, 7,800; Connecticut, 4,750; Rhode Island, 1,306; 
Maryland, 11,124; Delaware, 2,120; and New Jersey. 
8,320; whose aggregate area amounts to but 101,912 
square miles — less by 10,178 miles than the State of 
Nevada. Indeed, if we add to the aggregate area of 
these nine flourishino: States that of the kinsfdom 
of Belgium, we will have only 1,188 square miles 
more than is contained in the single State of Nevada ! 
Of this vast territory 1,655,000 acres are reported by 
county assessors as suitable for cultivation ; and their 
returns show that during the year 1874, 77,564 acres 
only were cultivated. 



Consisting of an elevated plateau 4,000 feet above 
the level of the sea, Nevada is traversed by numerous 
chains of mountains, rising from 1,000 to 5,000 feet 
above the State level, having therefore an absolute 
height varying from 5,000 to 9,000 feet. Interspersed 
between these mountains is a series of valleys, whose 
courses (north and south) are parallel to the axes of 
the mountains, and whose breadth ranges from five 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 9 

to twenty miles. This alternation of valley and mount- 
ain obtains with more or less regularity throughout 
the State, being about equally divided in the central 
portion, but the mountains becoming gradually fewer 
toward the boundaries, where the valleys, which here 
broaden out into plains, largely preponderate. Some 
of these plains are entirely unobstructed ; but others 
are dotted here and there with isolated hills, or groups 
of hills, called "buttes." Although the general course 
of these mountains and valleys has properly been set 
down as north and south, they trend, in some places, 
in other directions ; in a few cases, their axes are at 
right angles to this general direction. A few of the 
mountains are tipped with snow during the year, and 
send down perennial streams of water ; but the greater 
number, especially in the western or southern parts of 
the State, are partially or wholly without water. In 
outline, the mountains of Nevada are rather dome-like 
than rugged, the process of disintegration having gen- 
erally smoothed off their jagged peaks, though still 
leaving here and there a sharp, spire-like summit, 
whose contour is angular and bold. 

Instead of treating here of the quality of the soil, 
the nature and extent of the vegetation, and the qual- 
ity of the water— all of which will be described in 
their appropriate places— we now give our readers 
some account of Nevada's geological structure. 



lO NEVADA, 



G(er\efkl G^eolo^y. 

The mountains of Nevada — according to the ex- 
haustive report of Clarence King, Esq., United States 
Geologist — "are composed, first, of crumpled and up- 
lifted strata, from the late Jurassic down to the Azoic 
period; secondly, of ancient eruptive rocks, which ac- 
company the Jurassic upheaval; and thirdly, of mod- 
ern eruptive rocks, belonging to the volcanic family, 
and ranging in date, probably, from as early as the late 
Miocene up to the Glacial period. Folds of more or 
less complexity, twisted and warped by longitudinal 
forces, often compressed into a series of zigzags, some- 
times masked by outbursts of granite, syenitic granite, 
or syenite ; and, lastly, built upon by or frequently bur- 
ied beneath immense accumulations of volcanic ma- 
terial." # # # * * 

Speaking of the " Virginia range " — that in which 
the famous Comstock Lode is situated — the. same high 
authority remarks : " Little can be learned of the ancient 
structure of the Virginia range, for eight-tenths of its 
mass are made up of volcanic rocks. Only at rare in- 
tervals, where deep erosion lays bare the original 
range, or where its hard summits have been lifted 
above the volcanic flows, is there any clue to the ma- 
terials or position of the ancient chain. Mount David- 
son is one of these relics, being composed of syenite. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. I I 

Inclined against the base of this mass, and in the bot- 
toms of ravines, eroded in the volcanic material, occur 
considerable hills of metamorphic rocks, schists, lime- 
stones, graphitic shales, and slates. Southward, in the 
canon of the Carson, and in the ravines of the Pine 
Nut hills, are uplifted slates and carbonaceous shales 
associated with irregular limestone beds, the whole 
surrounded and limited by volcanic (andesitic) rocks. 
Still further southward, the crest ridge of the Pine 
Nut region, which is a continuation of the Virginia 
range, is syenitic granite, forming high rugged crags 
of an extremely picturesque aspect. Every analogy 
would point to the belief that these ancient relics of 
aqueous rocks, and the granitic masses accompanying 
them, are identical with the similar rocks which pre-- 
dominate in the majority of the Cordillera ranges; but- 
we have positive proof of this in the fact that in Eldo- 
rado Caiion, one of the ravines of the Pine Nut hills,, 
Professor Whitney has found Triassic fossils. 

" With few exceptions, then, the range is built up by 
successive outpourings of volcanic rocks, whose mode 
of occurrence, although simple and evident in general 
plan, is very complicated in detail. 

" In resume, it may be said that this range is one of 
the old Jurassic folds of stratified rocks, through whose 
fissures granite and syenite have obtruded ; that after 
a very long period of comparative repose, from the 
early Cretaceous to the late Tertiary, the old range 
was riven in innumerable crevices and . deluged by 



12 NEVADA, 

floods of volcanic rocks, which have buried nearly all 
its older mass, and entirely changed its topography. 
During this period of vulcanism, the present valleys 
were in great part filled with fresh-water lakes ; and 
near the base of the Virginia range, we have evidence, 
in the tufa deposits, that a considerable quantity of vol- 
canic material was both ejected under water and flowed 
down into it. Water penetrating the fissured range, 
and meeting melted rock, gave rise to the solfataras 
and hot springs whose traces are everywhere apparent. 
Following this age of lava and steam eruptions came 
the Glacial epoch, with its sequel of torrents and 
floods, and finally a great desiccating period, intro- 
ducing our present condition." 



Politidkl ©ivi^ior^, S^e, %t6. 

Nevada is now divided into fourteen counties, al- 
though, as originally constituted, she had ten counties. 
The present counties are Churchill, Douglas, Elko, 
Esmeralda, Humboldt, Lander, Lincoln, Lyon, Nye, 
Ormsby, Storey, Washoe, White Pine, and Eureka. 

Her government consists of a Governor, Lieutenant 
Governor, subordinate State officers, and the Legisla- 
ture of the Senate and House of Representatives — the 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 3 

former consisting of Senators and the latter of Repre- 
sentatives. She sends two Senators to Congress, who, 
at present, are the Hon. J. P. Jones and the Hon. 
William Sharon. 

As a State, Nevada is comparatively young. For- 
merly comprised in Western Utah, it was only in 
March, 1864, that she was admitted to the Union, 
though she was organized as a Territory in 1861. 

Her Legislature ratified the Fifteenth Amendment 
to the National Constitution on the first of March, 
1869. 



* * " Paint me, in your word-lore, 

Pictures of the Silver-land ; 
Paint me Washoe, as you see it, 

Tinting with a truthful touch ; 
Limn it with a faithful pencil, 

Do not color overmuch." 

Nevada forms a part of the territory acquired by the 
United States from Mexico, under the treaty of Guad- 
alupe Hidalgo, which was consummated in 1848. Be- 
fore this treaty, Nevada was occupied solely by the 
aboriginal races, and had no settlements of civilized 
people — not even a mission. Some trappers and In- 
dian traders, whose vocations led them to traverse the 
then unknown land, had followed the windings of its 



14 NEVADA, 

streams, and camped on the banks of its sloughs ; and 
a few small emigrant trains, as well as several govern- 
ment exploring parties, had crossed it ; but none made 
it their home. Fremont, Stanbury, Beckwith, Simp- 
son, and others, surveying for a practicable route for a 
railroad to the Pacific, crossed it in different direc- 
tions, and, though they shed much light on its topo- 
graphical and physical aspects, they gave but little 
information as to its mineral wealth or fitness for 
settlement. 

As early as 1833, the famous Kit Carson led a small 
band across Nevada, on his way to California. On 
this journey he crossed the Carson River, which ever 
since bears his name. The river gave its name to the 
valley through which it flows. In the valley thus 
designated, at a place called Genoa, the earliest per- 
manent settlers of Nevada made their home. They 
were Mormons, and for some time after their settle- 
ment, in 1848, their location was known as "the Mor- 
mon Station." During the succeeding three or four 
years, other settlements were planted by the same 
people, some of them locating in Eagle and Washoe 
Valleys, and some even on the present site of Carson 
City ! At that time, it was the Mormon policy to 
occupy all the choicest spots in this region, so as to 
exclude the so-called Gentiles. The discovery of gold 
in California, and the rapid influx of population there- 
upon, thwarted the Mormon schemes, and caused their 
leaders to issue an edict, in 1855, recalling their 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 5 

Nevada settlers to Salt Lake. This summons was 
promptly obeyed, the settlers forsaking their property, 
or disposing of it at great sacrifices, except such 
trifling effects as they could transport on their wagons. 
Arriving at the central settlement, 600 miles distant, 
they found themselves deceived and imposed upon, 
and after a few years, becoming disgusted with the 
duplicity practiced upon them, some of them, dis- 
heartened and impoverished, returned to the Carson 
Valley, where they re-occupied their old homes, or 
built new ones, as circumstances or necessity dictated. 
During their absence, in the summer of 1849, a party 
of immigrants, on their way to California, discovered 
gold at the mouth of a caiion, since known as Gold 
Caiion, near where the town of Dayton now stands. 
Finding they could wash out from ten to fifteen 
dollars per day to the hand — what was then considered 
California wages — they remained to engage in gold- 
washing. Their number was yearly increased by sub- 
sequent arrivals, till, in the summer of 1859, when the 
silver discovery was made, the population of this part 
of Utah, then called " the Eastern Slope," amounted 
to a little over a thousand souls, composed of adven- 
turers, traders, and miners. But a fourth of these 
were engaged in actual mining ; the rest were farmers, 
shepherds, and traders. The farming, however, was 
confined to cutting hay and raising a few vegetables, 
as the population depended on California for their 
supplies. Though little disposed to farming, those 



1 6 NEVADA, 

early settlers soon developed a fondness for stock- 
raising, which, even then, was found both easy and 
profitable. Their valleys supplied abundant water and 
grass, their climate did not require them to house 
their stock in winter, and they could always dispose of 
their stock to advantage, either in the markets of 
California, or to the half-famished immigrants who 
were constantly streaming through their settlement. 
Ever since their return from Salt Lake, the Mormon 
settlers Vv^ere objects of aversion and distrust among 
their neighbors. Having entire political control of the 
country, they made laws which were both partial and 
unjust ; they elected or appointed all public officers, 
who were poorly qualified for their positions ; they 
granted franchises to the adherents of their church, 
and withheld them from others as well entitled to 
them ; they upheld their officials in these arbitrary 
acts, and sometimes invested them with absolute 
power ; and finally, in the most despotic manner, 
they caused all the records of the community to be 
transferred to Salt Lake, Chafing under these griev- 
ances, the anti-Mormon settlers began, as early as 
1857, to agitate for a separation from Utah, and the 
erection of their region into a distinct Territory, 
which they proposed to call Nevada. As far as 
adopting a constitution and electing Territorial offi- 
cers and a delegate to Congress could attain their 
object, they secured this in 1859; but it was not till 
the 2d of March, 1861. that Congress gratified their 



THE LAND OF SILVER. I 7 

wishes and erected the present Territory of Nevada. 
This concession restored order and confidence, and 
had a very beneficial efifect generally. James W. Nye, 
who had been appointed Governor, and the Federal 
ofificials, arrived in the following July. On the 31st of 
August, Nevada held her first election, in which Judge 
Cradlebaugh was elected to Congress. The territorial 
organization thus brought about continued till the 
19th of January, 1864, when it was superseded by the 
present State constitution, authorized by Act of Con- 
gress. 

As might be supposed from the hitherto existing 
condition of the young community, nothing had been 
done in the way of manufacture. Indeed, prior to the 
discovery of the celebrated Comstock mines, there 
were only three saw-mills, two flour-mills, ^d half a 
dozen blacksmith and wagon-makers' shops in the Ter- 
ritory ! Roads or bridges were not much needed, as 
the country was comparatively level and the streams 
easily fordable. Of public buildings there were none 
— certainly none worthy of the name. Nor had there 
been any well-directed and concerted effort to construct 
a wagon road to California. In 1859 and '60, however, 
this matter was vigorously prosecuted by the Califor- 
nians, who were incited by the reported treasures of 
silver discovered in Nevada in the former year. With 
the exception of Genoa — at that time the capital — 
which did not quite number three hundred inhabitants, 
and Carson, next in size, which had still fewer people, 



1 8 NEVADA, 

there were no towns in the Territory ; for " Chinatown," 
"Johnstown," '■ Franktown," and other so-called toums, 
were only villages or agricultural hamlets. This tardy 
growth was occasioned by different causes, prominent J 
among which may be specified the unsettled condition 
of affairs, uncertain title to real estate, and insecure 
tenure of property, all conducing to a feeling of apathy 
in the minds of the people, who were contented merely .^ 
to exist. Some unusually rigorous winters, and w^ars 
with the native Indians, aggravated these causes. But 
these causes and their results were now to pass away to- 
gether. The discovery of Nevada's vast silver treasures 
— how vast, is not yet known — changed, as if by magic, 
the prospects of the State ai^d the spirit of her people. 
From being a somewhat dull and uninviting country, 
Nevada i«istantly became an " El Dorado " that offered 
unlimited wealth to every comer. Instead of being 
beyond impassable mountains, and Indian-guarded 
passes, and inhospitable plains, she was now within 
easy reach, even from the most distant parts of the 
world. Her own population rushed to grasp the wealth 
lying at their doors, and adventurous spirits from every 
part of the world kept daily pouring in, in large num- 
bers. Never, since the equally famous discovery of 
gold in California, was such a movement known. In 
five years Nevada had a population represented by 
16,420 voters! By the 13th of August, i860, two 
quartz mills had begun operations, and within two 
years from that date, eighty mills, carrying thous- 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 9 

ands of stamps, and costing nearly four millions of 
dollars, were steadily engaged liberating her hitherto 
pent-up wealth. Other interests kept pace with the 
development of her mines. Virginia, from being a 
mere village, grew into a city of ten thousand inhabit- 
ants, and populous centers grew up elsewhere in con- 
nection with mininor, lumberinsf, or agricultural inter- 
ests. This high tide of prosperity waned somewhat 
from 1864 to 1868. The exhaustion of some of the 
upper levels of the Comstock Lode was generally ac- 
cepted as an indication that the great ledge had 
already yielded the bulk of its riches, and as little pros- 
pecting had been done in the eastern counties, nothing 
was known of their value. In 1868, however, pros- 
pecting was resumed with renewed energy, and the 
neglected and unexplored eastern counties- were ex- 
plored by adventurous prospectors. Substantial reward 
followed — not immediately, but in the course of two 
or three years; and in 1871 a new era of prosperity 
dawned on the State. The Comstock Lode began to 
indicate something of its real value, as depth was 
reached upon the mighty deposit, and many thriving 
towns sprang up in the eastern counties where all be- 
fore had been 2iferra incognita. From 1871, the march 
of Nevada, in wealth and population, has been steadily 
onward, until she is now yielding more than half the 
precious metals produced in the United States. The 
total bullion product of all the States and Territories, 
in 1875, amounted to $80,889,037; of this amount 



20 NEVADA, 

Nevada produced $40,478,369, about one-half of the 
amount produced in all the States and Territories. 

The recent developments in the Eureka District 
are of great importance, and are attracting the liberal 
share of public attention which they deserve. They 
bear every indication of permanency. As depth is 
attained, the veins increase in size and richness, and 
the ore is more easily mined — as is the case with all 
pipe veins. New developments in this district warrant 
the assertion that this is one of the most important 
lead-mining districts in the world. Gold, silver, and 
lead are with profit extracted from the ore. Of the 
last mentioned metal, the United States uses over 
60,000 tons annually, and until lately the quantity 
produced in this country did not exceed 10,000 tons, 
necessitating the importation of the rest from Europe. 
But the great extent and permanent character of the 
mines in the Eureka District render it highly proba- 
ble that, at no distant day, a very large proportion of 
the lead needed in this country may be obtained from 
this district alone. 

In a sketch of the history of Nevada, it may not be 
considered proper to predict her future ; but it may 
not be altogether out of place to say that her interests, 
all and several, were never more promising than at 
present ; and with regard to her mining interests in 
particular there is the fullest confidence. Every month 
new discoveries are made. In truth, the fact is just 
beginning to dawn upon us, that Nevada is the richest 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 21 

mineral-bearing region in the world. Director Linder- 
man, of the United States Mints, estimates the yield 
of bullion from the Comstock Lode alone at forty mil- 
lions. The other counties will probably yield ten mil- 
lions more, making a grand aggregate of fifty millions 
of dollars for the present year — 1876. 



Although, thus far in the history of Nevada, as will 
probably always be the case, mineral wealth must re- 
ceive the first place among her resources, it does not 
by any means comprise them all. It is unquestion- 
ably great, and dwarfs every other ; but it is a mistake 
to suppose either that she has no other resources or 
that this consists in silver alone. Besides silver — of 
which she has so much as to be pre-eminently "the 
LAND OF silver" — shc has alum, antimony, borax, cin- 
nabar, coal, copper, fire-clay, galena, gypsum, iron, isin- 
glass, obsidian, plumbago, soda, and salt ; and for build- 
ing purposes, granite, limestone, sandstone, and marble. 

But incomparably great as is Nevada's showing of 
mineral wealth, her other resources are by no means 
inconsiderable. Her grazing and agricultural resources 
have become such that she is no longer dependent on 
other States for supplies. 



2 2 NEVADA, 

Her agricultural resources, in the past, have been 
little known, and less understood. To those who have 
hitherto regarded her as a barren wilderness, it will 
doubtless be a surprise to learn that her county as- 
sessors, in their reports for 1874, report one million 
six hundred and fifty-five thousand (1,655.000) acres of 
land fit for cultivation ! Of this large area, there were 
but seventy-seven thousand five hundred and sixty-four 
(77,564) under cultivation in the same year, showing 
that this important part of her resources is but in its 
infancy. Yet, in this undeveloped state, her ascer- 
tained capacity to grow all the various kinds of vege- 
tables, fruits, and cereals, explodes forever the long- 
entertained belief that she could grow nothing but 
tule, buffalo grass, and sage-brush. 

The soil of her lands reported fit for cultivation is 
both fertile and adapted to all varieties of culture, pro- 
ducing, with equal ease, the vines of Europe, the hardy 
cer.eals of North America, and the fruits and flowers 
of the sunny South. And to procure general accepta- 
tion for this assertion, we need but mention that her 
crop returns for last year, which we give in their ap- 
propriate place, show that the culture of barley, beans, 
beets, corn, figs, hay, hops, honey, lemons, onions, or- 
anges, olives, potatoes, sweet potatoes, vin^s, and all 
the common fruits and berries, was engaged in with 
success. The total number of fruit trees, of various 
kinds, returned for 1874, amounts to 164,594. 

Closely related to her agricultural resources are her 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 23 

scope and facilities for stock-raising. Her grazing 
resources are not yet accurately ascertained, but they 
must be immense ; and their value is enhancer! by the 
known fact that cattle, sheep, and hogs can winter on 
them without shelter. Details of the various kinds of 
stock will be found in another part of this work ; 
here it will be enough to say that, in 1874, Nevada 
produced 22,200 pounds of butter, and 668,738 pounds 
of wool ! 

In addition to these, she has fourteen grist-mills 
and twenty-seven saw-mills — the latter turning out, 
last year, 3,480,000 feet of lumber. All mention of 
her numerous quartz-mills and other expensive mining 
appliances is here purposely omitted, our intention in 
this chapter being to present a view of her natural 
resources only — resources which, though mostly un- 
developed because of the hitherto all-absorbing interest 
taken in the production of specie, are now forcing 
their importance even on minds constantly dazzled by 
the prospect of realizing a colossal fortune through 
the discovery of a rich mine, and therefore averse to 
all the more tardy ways by which people arrive at 
independence. 



24 NEVADA, 



Mii^efhl Wekltl\. 

As the mineral wealth of Nevada stands first among 
her natural resources, and is the source of her great 
wealth and the chief cause of her settlement, we 
purpose treating of it in such a way as its prominence 
and importance deserve. To do this in a manner 
which will be at once satisfactory to our readers and 
ourselves, it will be necessary to give a brief account 
of the way in which it was discovered, the localities in 
which it is found, and the mode in which the ore is 
extracted. 

EARLY DISCOVERY. 

The impetus given to mining by the discovery of 
gold in the Carson River, in 1 849, caused many of the 
early settlers of Nevada to turn their attention to this 
branch of industry ; and the abundance of this precious 
metal in the adjoining State of California kept the 
prospectors and miners in constant expectation of 
making rich discoveries. Animated by this hope, 
and cheered and rewarded with comparative success, 
they persistently followed their chosen vodlition for 
various lengths of time. It was not, however, till 
1859 — ten years after the finding of gold — that the 
discovery of the since world-famous Comstock Lode 
dazzled the world, and put to shame the comparatively 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 25 

meager expectations of even the most sanguine miners. 
Unlike the Carson gold discovery, the finding of the 
Comstock Lode was quite fortuitous. It happened in 
this wise: During the year 1858, a party of miners, 
who were working in a canon near where the Com- 
stock was afterwards discovered, were much hindered 
and annoyed by a black metallic substance, which, 
being heavy and difficult to separate from the gold, 
gave them a great deal of trouble. Ignorant of its 
value, and regarding it as a nuisance, they sought to 
avoid it as much as possible. Bothered not a little by 
the presence of this troublesome neighbor, they con- 
tinued their workings during the winter of '58 and 
spring of '59. By this time, they had worked up the 
gulch where they had been so pestered, and were then 
in the immediate vicinity of the Comstock Lode. At 
the stage of their workings at which they had arrived, 
it became necessary to dig a reservoir for the retention 
of the water used in washing, which flowed from the 
ravines above, and it was the digging of this reservoir 
which led to the grand discovery ; for in their excava- 
tions they came upon a mass of rich silver sulphurets, 
mixed with free gold — the first disclosure of the great 
silver-bearing lode which has since become so famous 
throughout the world ! 

Discovered in the spring, it was not till June, when 
the intelligence of the event had reached California, 
that the discovery was generally known, or its value 
approximately estimated. 



26 NEVADA, 

The honor of the discovery, if there was any honor 
connected with it, has been claimed for various par- 
ties, some according it to James Fennimore, wijjJe 
others award it to Peter O'Riely and Patrick 
McLaughlin. 

James Fennimore, or " Phinney," as he was usually 
called, was the first to locate a mining claim on the 
newly discovered lode ; but being ignorant of its 
value, and generously disposed, he sold it for a small 
sum to his companion, Henry Comstock, who, but 
little more able to appreciate the value of his purchase, 
sold for a slight advance- — thus by transmitting his 
name to the lode making himself immortal, and by 
passing it out of his hands beggaring himself of un- 
told wealth 1 

THE RUSH. 

The discovery of the great Comstock Lode was 
soon known in California, in the Eastern States, and 
throughout the world. An excitement without a 
parallel since the discovery of gold in California 
followed. Miners and speculators from California 
crossed the Sierra Nevada mountains on every kind 
of conveyance, and rushed to the new mines — " stay- 
ing not on the order of their going, but goingr 
The towns of Gold Hill and Virginia City sprung up, 
and were soon in a flourishinof- condition. Under 

O 

rules analogous to those in use in California, each 
miner had a right to locate 200 feet along the ledge, 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 27 

and within a few months after the discovery every 
available foot of ground for miles along the supposed 
course of the lode was taken up ! But it was not long 
before all the valuable mines had passed from the 
original locators into the hands of other owners, who 
soon transferred them to companies. 



f^hy^idkl ^i\el G^eolo^iai Cli^i^kdtei^^tid^ 



OF THE 



DISTRICT CONTAINING THE COMSTOCK LODE. 



Having thus given our readers an account of the 
discovery and occupancy of the Comstock Lode, we 
proceed to describe the locality in which it is found. 
In doing this, we shall again avail ourselves of the 
excellent report of Clarence King, Esq., United States 
Geologist. Speaking of the locality under considera- 
tion, that gentleman says : 

" In the northwest corner [of the Virginia Range] 
is seen a flat, plateau-like summit, from which, with a 
general direction toward the southeast, descends a 
system of deeply eroded ravines. These gather them- 
selves finally into two main streams — Gold Canon 
and Six-mile Canon. The upper portion of the range 



28 NEVADA, 

sends out to the southeast lofty spurs, which descend, 
with extremely abrupt slopes, to the levels of Virginia 
City, Gold Hill, and American Flat. Mount David- 
son, the culminating point of this region, projects a 
spur which, continuing southeast to the Carson plain, 
divides the drainage of the district — all the water from 
its north side flowino^ into Six-mile Cafion, that from 
the south into Gold Canon. Skirting the base of the 
first great step of the mountain descent is a compara- 
tively level region, and at the junction of this steep 
summit slope with the plateau is the Comstock Lode. 

" About four miles to the east, and in general par- 
allel to the summit, rises a lofty ridge, whose most 
prominent points have been called Mount Kate, Mount 
Rose, and Mount Emma. 

" The surface of the district is rendered extremely 
rough by a labyrinth of canons, which are deeply cut 
in all directions. * * * Poi- instance, the vertical 
distance from the central street of Virginia to the sum- 
mit of Mount Davidson is about 1,700 feet, and from 
the bottom of Six-mile Canon to the summit of Mount 
Emma is 1,300 feet. 

" Looking from Virginia, the ridge, culminating in 
Mount Emma, nearly closes the eastern view, except 
where the deep cut of Six-mile Cafion opens a gate- 
way to the Carson desert. The whole configuration 
of the surface is one massive pile of hills, steeply slop- 
ing into deep, narrow ravines. 

" As the description proceeds, it will be seen that 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 29 

the topography owes its characteristic forms and its 
rapid changes of slope to the great variety of rocky 
material. Indeed, there is scarcely a more interesting 
example within the limits of the exploration \_z. e., of the 
40th parallel] of the complete subordination of surface 
form to geological structure." 

Summing up a detailed account of the component 
parts of the district, the same high authority con- 
tinues : " The district, then, is an accumulation of vol- 
canic rocks built upon the eastern slope of an earlier 
range. We have the evidence of an original chain in 
the syenites and metamorphic rocks, and we have, 
clearly superposed in their normal sequence, the propy- 
lite, andesite, trachite, and basalt flows ; and finally are 
observed the results of intense aqueous erosion, which 
has scored the mountain slopes into sharp, deep ra- 
vines. It is an epitome of the whole great basin, and 
it is doubtful whether anywhere else over the entire 
Cordillera system can be found, in the same narrow 
limits, a representation of every important geological 
event. The points in this geology which affect the 
Comstock silver lode are, first, the mass of ancient 
rocks which slope steeply to the east ; secondly, the 
propylites which overflowed these rocks to a given 
height ; and thirdly, the andesites, which, in the form 
of an obscure, thin dike, have burst out on the contact 
plane of syenite and propylite ; fourthly, the immense 
solfataric activity to which the vein unquestionably 
owes its origin, and whose influence is recorded in 



30 NEVADA, 

the decomposed propylites lying east of the vein. The 
andesites overlying them are untouched. The gen- 
eral thermal activity was confined to the interval be- 
tween the outflow of propylite and that of the later 
andesite. It is probable that long after the great sol- 
fatara had ceased altogether, the Comstock remained 
the theater of great activity, and that only in most re- 
cent times has intense chemical and dynamical action 
abated." 

With the idea of the general appearance and struc- 
ture of the regfion containing^ the Comstock Lode thus 
brought vividly before us, we will now proceed to ex- 
amine 

THE STRUCTURE OF THE COMSTOCK LODE IN DETAIL. 

" The Comstock Lode," continues Mr. King, "lies 
at the base of the Mount Davidson group, and occu- 
pies, during the middle of its course, a line of contact 
between the syenite mass and the propylites which 
have overflowed it. North of Ophir Ravine it is 
walled upon both sides by propylite ; south of the Gold 
Hill Divide, at a point somewhere in the Exchequer 
claim, it also leaves the syenite and is carried south- 
ward, chiefly in propylite, but touching indistinctly the 
older metamorphic rocks upon the east side. Its course 
is about north 25*^ east, or a little east of the magnetic 
meridian. In Seven-mile Canon, near the base of 
Cedar Hill, is the most northern known portion of the 
lode. From that point it continues south in a nearly 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 3 1 

direct line, underneath Virginia City, across the divide, 
past Gold Hill to American Flat, where the wide de- 
pressed area has produced conditions unfavorable to 
further development. Upon this entire length are 
located a series of mining claims occupying the lode 
for 22,000 feet. 

■' In point of geological time, the system of fissures 
which constitute the Comstock Lode are subsequent 
to the propylite outflow, and belong, in all probability, 
to the dynamical disturbance connected with the erup- 
tions of andesite. It is considered certain that the 
whole series of volcanic outbursts are since the Mio- 
cene epoch, and we may safely call the Comstock a 
Tertiary lode. It is by no means a single crack which 
has been subsequently filled with mineral material, but 
forms a connected group of fissures whose structural 
outlines are quite simple, but whose details produce a 
complexity almost unknown in metal veins. 

" Extensive explorations, reaching to a depth of 
1,200 feet, have facilitated to a wonderful de2:ree the 
study of this immense lode ; and although certain 
minor conditions are even yet obscure, there are data 
for intelligent comprehension of all the important facts. 
For a distance of 1,700 feet the galleries and tunnels, 
run for the purpose of exploring the silver deposits, 
have opened up nearly all portions of the vein, and we 
are able, with almost absolute certainty, to map out 
the general structure of its interior. 

" For 4,800 feet syenite forms the west wall. It pre- 



32 NEVADA, 

serves great uniformity in its clip, rarely exceeding 47^ 
to the east, and never rising to less than 40'^. The west 
wall plane is not smooth, but advances to the east in 
broad curved projections, to which the name of capes 
has been given. These gentle swellings are character- 
istic of the whole syenite surface. They point down- 
ward, uniform in dip, with the recurved portions main- 
taining an average angle of 46° to the east. South- 
ward, and north of the syenite, where propylite forms 
the west wall, the same curved, buttress-like ribs lie up 
and down its slope. At a distance varying from 100 
to 800 feet further east is the other wall. To the east 
of this lies the propylite country-rock, which, by some 
strange accident, is comparatively unaltered near the 
vein, but at a very short distance to the east becomes 
decomposed under the influence of the solfataras. 

" The east wall is still somewhat indefinite ; swelling 
out often towards the east in. bold curves, and again 
approaching the west country; in one or two places it 
comes into actual contact with the latter. From the 
surface it descends until it reaches the inclined face of 
the west wall, at a depth which is generally from 600 
to 1,200 feet, although at two places the point of con- 
tact is indefinitely deeper. This depth is varied, first, 
by the irregularities of the surface, and secondly, by 
its curves toward the east country of the west wall. It 
is obvious that the further to the east it deflects, the 
deeper will be the point of contact. A frequent fea- 
ture of the east wall is its convexity toward the west. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 33 

It is one of the largest examples of conchoidal fracture 
that can be observed. 

" These two walls, inclining together, form a V-like 
section. This wedge, produced north and south, re- 
sults in a long vein mass 20,000 feet in length, varying 
on the surface from a width of 200 to 800 feet, with 
the western wall descending at 45° to the east, and a 
steep east wall intersecting it, at a varying depth of 
800 to 1,200 feet. 

"So powerful has been the influence of the rigid 
mass of Mount Davidson upon this lode, that, even to 
the north and south, where it continues wholly in pro- 
pylite, the system of fissures induced by the syenite is 
maintained. After the cooling of the propylite over- 
flow, a thin dike of andesite penetrated the contact 
plane between the syenite and the propylite, and was. 
undoubtedly the first step in the formation of the lode. 
Contemporaneously with this andesitic fissure, or with 
those of the main andesitic outflow, the eastern fissure 
was formed. To the western is given the name of 
contact fissure ; to the eastern, since it contains nearly 
all the silver deposits, is applied the term of ore chan- 
nel. The submerged base of Davidson not only af- 
fected the larger outlines of the lode, but has had a 
tendency to throw the channel further to the east over 
each of the fluted projections of its surface. 

" The eastern fissure never penetrates the syenite, 
but dies out to a mere clay seam upon its unbroken 
front. Throughout the greater part of the lode there 
3 



34 NEVADA, 

is no appearance of a vein below this junction ; but at 
the Hale & Norcross, and in the Gold Hill group, 
the contact does not occur, the east wall curving into 
parallelism with the west. The great ore channel, 
then, is simply a gash from the surface down into the 
inclined fissure which lies upon the face of the west 
wall. The vast deposits of silver, which have given to 
these mines their world-wide celebrity, have been 
almost wholly mined from this gash, or its connected 
openings. While the vein, as a whole, can only be re- 
garded as a true fissure, since its deep connections are 
evident from its chemical and dynamical conditions, 
yet that particular fissure which has mainly carried the 
silver is certainly limited in depth by the west wall. 
The unimportant channels of ore which have traversed 
the propylite horses, lying between the two fissures, 
are so evidently connected with the main ore channel, 
and confine themselves so closely to its neighborhood, 
i;hat they may be considered as its accompaniments and 
spurs. 

" The wedge-like mass of propylite occupying the 
middle of the lode is considered to be a great horse. 
It is penetrated with a network of innumerable seams 
of quartz and clay, and lines which have evidently been 
the channels of solfataric action. It is generally in a 
decomposed and spongy condition, frequently having 
lost its porphyritic texture. This horse is generally 
subdivided by longitudinal fissures, commonly filled 
with clay, and terminating downward, near the regions 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 35 

of the walls, in mere plates of pasty material. It is 
also divided by curved, conchoidal fractures, with their 
convexity to the west. Throughout the central portion 
of the lode these conchoidal fractures, breaking joints 
with each other, are of frequent occurrence. 

" Besides the minor changes of the east wall, there 
are certain general curves to the east, which are con- 
nected at the extremities with the west wall, forming 
a series of separate solfataric vents. The Gold Hill 
group of mines occupies one of these chimneys ; the 
Bullion and a part of the Chollar-Potosi, a second ; 
the Virginia group, a third ; the Consolidated and 
Ophir, a fourth. Of those mines lying north of the 
Ophir, our information is so meager that we are un- 
able to indicate further chimneys. While there is no 
reason to doubt that the whole vein was formed by 
one general solfatara, yet, from the difference of min- 
eralization, both in quantitative and qualitative sense, 
it seems certain that, towards the close of the action, 
each of these chimneys was a separate outlet. 

" In general, then, the lode has a longitudinal ex- 
pansion of 22,000 feet. It is a wedge of material 
included between an inclined fissure on the west side 
and a steeper gash communicating with it on the east. 
The gash, curving east or west in accordance as the 
west wall recedes or advances in capes, contains all, 
or nearly all, of the silver bonanzas. The Inclined 
fissure, though bearing here and there small bunches 
of silver, is comparatively valueless. Both these 



36 NEVADA, 

fissures are more or less filled with continuous veins 
of quartz, which are lined on both sides with sheets of 
clay. Clay also fills all the conchoidal fissures of the 
propylite horse, and percolates into every water channel 
within the lode. 

" Evidence of long continued solfataric action is 
present, not only in the accumulations of quartz and 
clay, but in the peculiar decomposition of the feld- 
spathic material of the horses. Along the west wall, 
and separating the vein from the syenite, occur at 
intervals the metamorphosed and decomposed relics 
of the dike of andesite which was the starting point 
of the Comstock Lode. Finally, grouped according to 
interesting rules in the sheets of quartz occupying the 
eash vein, are the bonanzas of silver ore bodies. 
Currents of heated waters still penetrate the lode 
from below, and are unquestionably the lingering 
traces of solfataric action. Chemical decomposition 
is yet active here. The vast masses of propylite 
horses and of clay are to-day quite plastic, and work- 
ing with immense dynamic power. Nearly the whole 
interior of the lode is in a condition of gentle chemi- 
cal activity. 

" Quartz forms the oilly gangue in the Comstock 
Lode. Those small masses of carbonate of lime 
which occur, intermingled with quartz, in the Gold 
Hill and Hale & Norcross lower levels, are rather to 
be considered an included mineral of accidental ocur- 
rence than as a true gangue. With the exception ot 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 37 

small quantities of silver minerals contained in the 
clay sheets, where they are placed in close contact 
with the bonanza, the whole silver-tenure of the lode 
is contained in the bodies of quartz. The ore itself 
is composed of native gold, native silver, silver 
glance, stephanite, polybasite, rich galena, occasional 
pyrargyrite, horn silver, and, with extreme rarity, 
sternbergite. Intimately associated with these, occur 
iron and copper pyrites and zinc blende. Of these, 
pyrargyrite and horn silver are rarities ; polybasite and 
sternbergite, in recognizable crystals, occupy a few 
scattered localities ; stephanite, in defined crystalliza- 
tions, has been found in nearly every bonanza, but the 
main body of the ore is a confused, semi-crystallized 
association of native gold and silver, vitreous silver 
ore, rich galena, copper and iron pyrites, and zinc 
blende. The following two analyses, made at the 
Shefiield Chemical Laboratory of Yale College, are 
by Mr. W. G. Mixter, an assistant of that establish- 
ment, and Mr. Arnold Hague, of their corps. They 
are of samples from the Savage and Kentuck lower 
workings of 1869. 

ANALYSES OF COMSTOCK ORE. 

SAVAGE. KENTUCK. 

Silica 83.95 9149 

Protoxide of iron 1.95 .S^ 

Alumina 1.25 1.13 

Protoxide of manganese 64 

Magnesia 2.82 1.37 



NEVADA, 



ANALYSES OF COMSTOCK ORE — (CONTINUED). 



SAVAGE. KENTUCK. 



Lime 85 1.42 

Sulphide of zinc 1.75 .13 

Sulphide of copper 30 41 

Sulphide of lead 36 .02 

Sulphide of silver 1.08 .12 

Gold 02 .001 7 

Bisulphide of iron 1.80 .92 

Potassa and soda 1.28 1.05 

Water 2.33 .59 

100.38 9948 

" In general, the ore within the limits of bonanzas is 
pretty uniformly disseminated through the quartz. It 
is only rarely that large, solid accumulations occur 
The silver minerals ordinarily lie in masses about the 
size of a hen's egg. In the central portions of bonan- 
zas there is usually a somewhat denser arrangement of 
ore ; and, in their relations to the bonanza systems, the 
northern halves of the two groups are the richer, and 
the charging is more and more dense toward the sur- 
face. It is evident, from the manner in which the ore 
itself is broken and dislocated, that the dynamical ac- 
tion which powdered the quartz occurred after it was 
charged with ore. 

" There is every reason to suppose, from the man- 
ner in which the ore minerals intersect the quartz, that 
they were deposited while the latter was still plastic. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 39 

Since the period of crushing, additional charges of 
quartz and ore have been introduced into the fissure 
to a small extent. In a few cases, as in the 800-foot 
level of the Yellow Jacket mine, broken fragments 
of quartz, themselves containing ore, have been re- 
cemented by sheets of stephanite which have pene- 
trated the cracks, and over the stephanite a second- 
ary growth of quartz crystals has taken place, and 
these quartz crystals themselves are again coated with 
fine varnish of silica. The carbonate of lime, which 
is found in the lower works of Gold Hill and Hale & 
Norcross, but more especially in the former, has crys- 
tallized in the cavities of the quartz, and in some in- 
stances has been subsequently coated with a film of 
quartz, and then dissolved out, leaving skeleton crys- 
tals built up of thin films of silica. In the middle 
Savage mine, in the region of the second station, for 
a considerable time quartz and ore alternated in depo- 
sition. There is a limited region where the ore and 
quartz form alternate concentric layers. Outside of 
the most recent layer of ore, in rare instances, has 
been formed a plating, about half an inch thick, of 
carbonate of manganese, which in its turn was again 
covered with a thin layer of silica, 

•' The ores of Gold Hill and Virginia are very similar 
in their mode of arrangement and general mineralogi- 
cal composition. Stephanite occurs much more spar- 
ingly in Virginia mines than in Gold Hill. In all the 
ore that has been worked the average proportion of gold 



40 NEVADA, 

remains very nearly the same. In the uppermost works 
of the Belcher, in the upper levels of the Gold Hill 
group, and in the very highest portions of the Gould 
& Curry bonanza, there was perhaps a slight increase 
over the present proportionate yield of gold. In a 
part of the Bullion, however, and in the Virginia 
vein back of the Ophir, and in the Sacramento, gold, 
largely predominates. The metal produced from these 
mines averages nine dollars to the ounce. With these 
unimportant exceptions, the average proportion of 
gold is about thirty per cent, of the whole v^alue. 
Eight-tenths of all the bonanzas have occurred in the 
ore-channel, or in fissures joining it and belonging 
to its system. Within this zone there has been a 
general tendency to accumulate where the convex 
face of the east wall invades the lode, as at Gold Hill, 
Gould & Curry, and the Ophir. The chief develop- 
ments have been within 600 feet of the surface. The 
mineralogical characters of the ore vary very little 
from the surface to the lowest depths, except that 
above 400 feet the ' Colorados ' have reddened the 
veins, and oxide of iron in a measure replaces the 
sulphide of that metal. 

" Accidental minerals are horn silver, which in rare 
small crystals occurred in the outcrop of the Gold 
Hill group, and native copper; the latter, in connec- 
tion with native gold and silver, and green carbonate 
of copper, in an earthy, clay-like mass, occurred in 
the upper works of the Gould & Curry. Native 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 4 1 

copper also, in minute but well-defined crystals, is 
found in the clays of the Sierra Nevada. This is 
interesting, since directly above it in the earlier works 
an unusual predominance of copper pyrites was found. 
At a depth of about 500 to 700 feet, in various parts 
of the lode, the ore not unfrequently assumes a green- 
ish hue, given it by an admixture of chlorite. On the 
325-foot level of the Chollar-Potosi, north of the 
Potosi shaft, this first made its appearance. It has 
occurred largely in the Hale & Norcross, and in the 
900-foot level of the Yellow Jacket is quite frequent. 
Together with the chlorite is chloride of silver in thin 
scales. Perhaps the greatest variety of unusual forms 
of the ore was found in the Ophir. In the back stope 
of . that mine, in the midst of a very rich deposit, 
occurred considerable masses of antimonial ore, and a 
singular association of rich galena and native silver. 
Near the lower limits of the front body were unusual 
accumulations of zinc blende, which in depth asso- 
ciated itself more and more with galena and copper 
pyrites, and finally gave out at the bottom of the 
bonanza, the quartz there being stained with carbonates 
and a sulphate of copper, and the waters charged with 
sulphates of copper and magnesia. Pyromorphite 
also occurred in the middle Ophir. The powdered 
eastern quartz mass was often held together by thick 
accumulations of ore, which were traversed in every 
direction by wires of native silver ; especially was this 
the case in the upper levels of the Mexican. The 



42 NEVADA, 

arrangement of the minerals in the north part of the 
Ophir bonanza was very interesting. From the 
surface down to sixty feet below the Walsh tunnel, 
the galena, copper, and iron pyrites, with a little 
blende, predominated. From that point down to the 
great curve of the east wall, rich masses of the ordi- 
nary Comstock silver ore gave an immense value to 
the quartz. Thence to the bottom, iron pyrites and 
blende gradually replaced the silver ore. In the 
Ophir bonanzas more malleable sulphide of silver 
occurred than anywhere else in the Comstock. It is 
held to be an earlier product than the brittle minerals, 
and often performed the duty of holding together the 
fractured quartz." , 

After an examination of many particulars interest- 
ing to geologists, but too lengthy to be quoted here, 
Mr. King concludes his excellent description of the 
Comstock Lode with the following masterly resume : 

resume' of conclusions concerning the comstock 

LODE. 

" The result of this long investigation may be summed 
up in the following statement of conclusions : The 
ancient Virginia range, prior to the Tertiary period, 
was composed of sedimentary beds of the great Cor- 
dillera system, which, in the late Jurassic epoch, had 
been folded up, forming one of the corrugations of that 
immense mountain structure which covers the western 
part of our continent. Accompanying this upheaval 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 43 

were outpourings of granite and syenite. The erosion 
which followed this mountain period escarped the an- 
cient rocks, and modeled the eastern front of Mount 
Davidson into a comparatively smooth surface, whose 
average angle of slope sank to the east at about 40°. 
In the late Tertiary, at the time of the volcanic era, the 
Virginia range shared in the dynamical convulsions, 
which orave vent to successive volcanic outflows of im- 
mense volume and very remarkable character. The 
first, and so far as the Comstock Lode is concerned 
the most important, was of propylite or trachytic green- 
stone, which deluged the range from summit to base, 
covering large portions of its ancient surface, and 
leaving here and there isolated masses, which rose like 
islands above the wide fields of volcanic rock. Sub- 
sequently followed the period of the andesites, which, 
at their commencement, in the form of a thin, intrusive 
dike, penetrated a new-formed fissure on the contact 
plane of the ancient syenite and the propylite. This 
earlier andesite period gave birth to the solfataras, 
which, bursting from a hundred vents, rapidly decom- 
posed the surrounding rocks, and gradually filled the 
fissures of the Comstock with their remarkable charges 
of metal-bearing quartz. The latest flows of andesite 
poured out over the decomposed propylite ; and since 
they are themselves unaltered, their appearance marks 
the period when solfataric action over wide areas had 
ceased. While no longer maintaining its energy 
through the broad zone of propylite, it still continued 



44 NEVADA,. 

intensely active within the chambers of the Comstock 
Lode. MetalHc contents were introduced into the 
quartz, the clay seams were formed by a rapid decom- 
position of the neighboring propylite materials, the 
horses reduced to a spongy, semi-plastic condition, and 
at last the final solidification of the quartz took place. 
Outside of the vein two events of sfeoloo^ical interest 
have occurred: first, the period of trachyte eruptions, 
when from the ruptures of the crust, parallel to the 
Comstock Lode, vast volumes of sanidin-trachyte over- 
flowed the country ; and secondly, the less powerful 
but still important outpouring of basaltic rock, which 
marked the close of the volcanic era. Within the vein, 
and probably caused by one or both of these latter 
volcanic disturbances, a pressure has been exerted 
which has crushed and ground the masses of quartz 
into minute frasfments. It is interesting^ to observe, 
that while this force was great enough to crush quartz- 
masses one hundred and fifty feet in breadth into mere 
angular pebbles, the disturbances were insufficient to 
cause any actual faulting of importance. Both with- 
in and without the vein the solfataras gradually came 
to a close. The heated currents of water, which even 
yet ascend into the lower levels of the mines, are evi- 
dence that at no very great depth a considerable tem- 
perature is still maintained, but this is only a faint relic 
of a once intense action. 

"No chemical theory will be advanced as to the 
origin of the quartz, nor of those delicate questions of 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 



45 



magneto-chemical introduction and subsequent trans- 
mutations of the metallic minerals. They belong 
rather to an abstruse study of the theory of veins in 
general, than to an investigation of a particular district." 

The annual yield of bullion from the Comstock 
Lode has been approximately as follows : 

In i860, $100,000, arising from the sale of ores 
(there being, as yet, no mills in the country). 

i860 $ 100,000 

1 86 1 2,000,000 

1862 7,000,000 

1863 14,000,000 

1 864 1 7,000,000 

1865 17,000,000 

1866 13,000,000 

1867 14,000,000 

The sober estimate of competent men for the cur 
rent year [1876I is no less than $50,000,000. 



1 868 $ 9,000,000 

1869 8,000,000 

1870 13,500,000 

1 87 1 15,500,000 

1872 16,000,000 

1873 35'254>507 

1874 35452,233 

1875 40,478,369 




[Page 46.] 



MINING. 



" On they came, a mighty legion, 

Bright new homes resolved to gain. 
Tamed a wild and rugged region, 

Bringing empire in their train. 
Here they toiled, and here they rested. 

And with hope and pride elate, 
On mountains gold and silver-crested, 

Here they built a mighty State." 

Before we give any account of the way in which the 
ores of the Comstock lode are extracted or reduced, we 
desire to say a few words regarding mining as an m- 
dustry ; and, first of all, we postulate that mining is as 
legitimate a pursuit as any other. The owners of 
quarries are not blamed for digging out their slate, 
their stone, or their marble ; neither England nor 
Pennsylvania is accused for working its great beds 
of coal : then why should Australia and California he 
condemned for mining their gold ? or Nevada, for un- 
earthing her wonderful deposits of silver ? There is 
no valid reason why they should ; for mining is one 
thing — the tricks and frauds practiced by swindlers, 
in connection therewith, quite another. For these 



48 NEVADA, 

swindlers, and the artful devices by vv^hich they fleece 
their dupes, we have, in common with all right-thinking 
men, the deepest aversion ; but for mining, in itself 
considered, we cherish a warm sympathy, and wish it 
every success. Apart from all moral considerations, 
however, mining is a necessity. Without gold, silver, 
copper, iron, lead, tin, and zinc, our present civilization 
would be impossible ; and were the supply of these ma- 
terials cut off, retrogression, instead of progress, would 
be the order of the day. So obvious is this that it is 
scarcely possible to over-estimate the influence that min- 
ing has of late exercised on the advancement of the 
world. Within the last quarter of a century, the excep- 
tionally large discoveries of gold and silver have brought 
about the settlement of countries which, up to those 
discoveries, were the abode of savages, and which, but 
for those discoveries, would still, in all probability, be 
as unproductive and useless to the world as they were 
before. But for her treasures of gold, Australia, an 
island continent, only one-fifth less than Europe, hav- 
ing large and populous cities, flourishing provinces, 
several distinct governments, and a population of over 
two millions of civilized people, would be to-day — what 
she was before her rich deposits of gold were discov- 
ered — an idle, empty continent^ traversed by naked sav- 
ages, and of no other use than breeding sheep or serv- 
ing as a penal settlement for Great Britain ! But for 
her gold, British Columbia, now a healthy, happy 
country, dotted over with prosperous towns and thriv- 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 49 

ing settlements, would still be a labyrinth of gloomy 
forests, intersected by Indian trails, and occupied only 
by her rude aborigines and a few adventurous trap- 
pers ! California, with her vast energy, unparalleled 
progress, flourishing cities, luscious fruits, and fertile 
plains, but for her gold would be still the same remote, 
unheard-of region that she was before her gold drew 
her from obscurity ! And Nevada — " The Land of 
Silver" — but for her mineral wealth would, to-day, be 
the same cheerless waste that, prior to the develop- 
ment of her great silver treasures, she had been from 
time immemorial ! 

Yet, confessedly great as these changes are, the 
power of mining does not end here : the canoe has 
given place to the steamship, the Indian trail has been 
superseded by the railroad, the aboriginal village has 
been displaced by the populous city, the war-whoop of 
the blood-thirsty savage is succeeded by the lullaby of 
the civilized mother, and, in each of the countries 
cited, the wilderness has been made to blossom like 
the rose ! 

And, in Nevada, this potent industry, which has 
wrought such revolutions in the past, never was more 
prosperous or gave better promise than it does now. 
The sober estimate of competent men for the current 
year (1876) is no less than fifty millions of dollars 
for this State alone ! The effect of disseminatins: this 
large sum through our communities will be to promote 
manufacture, trade, and commerce ; to incite enterprise 
4 



50 NEVADA, 

and development; to enhance the vakie of real estate; 
to invite immigration ; and, in brief, to benefit every 
class of society. And last, though not least, mining 
itself, the prime cause of all this prosperity, will be 
beneficially reacted upon ; mining enterprises will be 
pushed forward on a still grander scale, prospecting 
for new mines will be prosecuted with increased dili- 
gence, and old mines will be worked hopefully and pa- 
tiently. 

" The gold and silver mines of the Pacific Slope 
have created impulses that have advanced civilization. 
The arts have advanced, architecture has made new 
discoveries in applying its skill, manufacturers have 
been called upon to supply more people and with 
better garments, and the great mass of the people 
have been greatly benefited. Since the out-pouring of 
the silver and gold from our mines, we are every way 
■improved. Not only so — where one used to have 
these good things, ten have them now. The whole 
plane of human comforts and enjoyments has been 
raised up many degrees. The last twenty-five years 
have seen the world moved ahead in Christian civiliza- 
tion further than in any century before. 

" Can we not see now that the discovery of gold 
and silver of the Pacific Slope evinces a strong evi- 
dence of an overruling Providence } Here the 
precious metals were created and laid away in the 
dark, till the human family had migrated westward 
from their starting point in the East, till they had a 




[Page SO.] 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 5 1 

new continent in their hands, till human civilization 
had advanced, till there was not a circulating medium 
to move its property and supply its wants, till the 
world was ready to leap up for a new race in human 
improvement ; then the gold and silver, on which the 
savage foot had trodden for ages, which his taste 
valued less than the fish-bone ornaments which he 
strung around his neck, flashed out of its hiding 
place." 

With these preliminary remarks about mining as 
an industry, we now proceed to give our promised 
account of how the Comstock ores are extracted. 



>iode of ^E^xtAdtiq^ tl\e f^i'ediou^^ >ietal^ 
froii^ tl\e Oi'e. 



GENERAL METHOD OF EXPLOITATICHST. 

Two methods of exploitation have been adopted for 
working and prospecting the Comstock Lode : one 
being by means of perpendicular shafts, and the other 
of adit-levels, or tunnels, driven through the eastern 
country, and designed to tap the lode in depth. 
Although a great number of these tunnels were at 
first run, only one (that of the Gould & Curry Com- 



52 NEVADA, 

pany) ever proved of much practical use — nearly all 
the ore from that mine having been found through 
this, its channel of exit. Large sums of money were 
spent on works of this kind, without achieving any 
good end ; many of them having been abandoned 
before completion, while of those that reached the lode 
nearly the whole intersected it at barren sections, or 
at depths too inconsiderable to render them available, 
to any great extent, for the purposes of ore extraction 
and drainage. The shaft, however, was the means of 
exploitation most resorted to from the first. Misled 
by the false pitch of the eastern wall, and a slight 
westerly inclination of the upper ore bodies, it was then 
supposed that the normal dip of the vein was toward 
the west ; and therefore most of the shafts were sunk 
on the croppings. As a consequence, these works 
soon came in contact with the foot-wall — those about 
Virginia when down from 400 to 500 feet, and those 
near Gold Hill at somewhat greater depths. When 
it became apparent that the permanent pitch of the 
vein was toward the east, the plan was adopted of 
putting down these shafts at points 800 or 1,000 feet 
to the east of and below the croppings, except in 
the vicinity of Gold Hill, where the most of them 
have been continued at the places of their first loca- 
tion. Thus, enumerating only some of the principal 
mines, we have standing in the east country rock, and 
designed to strike the lode at great depths, the shafts 
of the Ophir, Consolidated Virginia, Gould & Curry, 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 53 

Savage, Hale & Norcross, Chollar-Potosi, and the 
Imperial-Empire companies ; while the Bullion, Yellow 
Jacket, Kentuck, Crown Point, Belcher, and most of 
the other mines in the vicinity of Gold Hill, are still 
working through the shafts originally started in or to 
the west of the croppings. The most of these shafts 
consist of four com.partments, three being used for 
hoisting and one for pumping purposes. They are 
twenty-four feet long and six feet wide, making each 
compartment six feet square. They are timbered from 
top to bottom, in the most substantial manner, and 
supplied with steam hoisting-works, the driving-power 
of some being furnished by three effective engines. 
There are from thirty-five to forty of these establish- 
ments erected along the line of the Comstock Lode, 
nearly every company claim being furnished with one. 
All of these shafts are vertical — at least in their upper 
portions — several of the deeper ones inclining toward 
the lode at points between the i,ooo and 1,200-foot 
levels. At intervals, usually of 100 feet, drifts or 
tunnels are run off from the shaft, for the purpose of 
extracting the ore or prospecting the ground ; these 
horizontal passages being called levels. 

STOPE TIMBERING. 

The difficulty of sustaining ground of this nature 
by any method of timbering is not only in itself great, 
but is much increased by the large size of the cham- 
bers rendered vacant by the extraction of the bodies 



54 NEVADA, 

of ore. Methods ordinarily in use in veins of moder- 
ate width and in firm rock were found to be in- 
sufficient. To meet the necessities of the case, a 
method of timbering was introduced which is said to 
have been devised by Philip Deidesheimer, Esq., then 
superintendent of the Ophir mine. This consists in 
framing timbers together in rectangular sets, each set 
being composed of a square base, placed horizontally, 
formed of four timbers, sills, and cross-pieces, four to 
six feet long, framed together, surmounted by four 
posts, six to seven feet high, at each corner, and 
capped by a frame-work similar to that of the base. 
These cap pieces, forming the top of any set, are at 
the same time the sills or base of the next set above, 
as the sets rise one above the other in the stope, being 
generally placed in position directly over those below. 
This somewhat complicated system of timbering may 
also be described, in other terms, as a succession of 
horizontal floors, composed of timbers that are penned 
together in rectangular sets, four to five feet square, 
the floors being supported one above the other by 
posts seven to eight feet high. The timbers are 
usually of twelve -inch stuff, square hewn or sawed. 
They are framed with much care, so that the various 
parts fit snugly together. Each piece, excepting, 
occasionally, the ground sill or foundation timber of 
a new series of floors, is cut and framed separately. 
The expense of this work is, of course, very great, 
both for material and labor. The cost of timber is 




Blake's Patent Rock Breaker. 

[Paye 34.1 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 55 

from $25 to $30 per thousand feet board measure, and 
the consumption is enormous, making the timbering 
one of the largest items of expense in the Comstock 
mines. 

ORE EXTRACTION. 

The ore, as it is worked out or broken down b}^ the 
miners in the stope, is thrown down to the track-level 
of the station below, either falling upon the floor of 
the drift or into a receiver or bin, whence it is loaded 
into the drift-car, and carried to the shaft. There the 
car containing its load, either of ore or waste-rock, is 
placed upon the cage or platform in the shaft, and 
raised to the surface, where it is run froito the cage oA 
to another track, and so conveyed to the appropriate 
ore-bin, or waste-dump, according to its character, and 
thus delivered of its load without an intermediate 
handling. 

The reader will notice that this chapter is to treat 
of the mode of extracting the precious metals from 
the ore, not extracting the ore from the mine — a 
process generally understood, and the same every- 
where, except that in semi-civilized countries the ore 
is brought to the surface in small bags carried on the 
backs of the miners, while in civilized countries it is 
hoisted up by machinery. 

CRUSHING. 



The mode of treatino- ores in voo:ue in the nei2:h- 
borhood of the Comstock Lode is called the Washoe 



56 NEVADA, 

process^ — a name common to the whole region, and 
given to it by the early miners after the tribe of 
Indians found living there. 

The ore to be treated by this process, then, is 
delivered from the mine in pieces varying in size from 
fine particles to lumps as large as a man can lift. 
In order to prepare it for the mill proper, it must first 
be crushed to a powder. This is done, first, by break- 
ing the larger pieces in a rock-crusher, and then by 
passing the whole through a battery of five or more 
heavy iron stamps or pestles, which, falling on a solid 
iron mortar upon which the ore is thrown, reduce it to 
syiall particles. 

The stamps or pestles, which vary in weight from 
500 to 1,000 pounds, are lifted by revolving cams, 
which give them a fall of from seven to fifteen inches, 
and about seventy times a minute — each fall being a 
blow of so many pounds. 

While the battery is working, a stream of water is 
admitted to the box in which the crushing is done, 
and, flowing over the mortar and pulverized ore, car- 
ries off all particles sufficiently small to pass through 
the fine screens placed in front of apertures in the 
box, in order that the crushed ore may escape, and 
leave room for the process to continue. 

The screens through which the crushed ore escapes 
are either brass wire -cloth, having thirty-five to forty 
meshes to the lineal inch, or Russian sheet iron per- 
forated with small holes. The latter kind is gener- 




[Page 36.] 




ca.m:s. 




GOLD. 



SILVER. 



Wet Crushing Mortars. 



IPage S7.] 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 57 

ally preferred ; those in common use are numbers 5 or 
6 — the latter having holes one-fortieth of an inch in 
diameter. 

The stream of stuff discharged from the battery is 
conveyed in troughs to a series of settling tanks 
placed in front of the batteries. These tanks, which 
are usually of plank, are three or four feet deep by 
five or more feet square, and are so arranged as to 
have communication with each other near the top, so 
that the stream of water carrying the crushed ore in sus- 
pension, having filled one tank, may pass into the next, 
and so on, depositing the material, and not finally 
leaving the tanks until it has become tolerably clear. 
When one or more of the settlino: tanks in the mill 
have been filled, the stream is diverted from such to 
others that have been emptied ; and the full ones, in 
their turn, are cleaned out : the sand, or crushed ore, 
being then subjected to the grinding and amalgamat- 
ing process of the pan. 

GRINDING AND AMALGAMATION. 

The pans employed for this purpose present a great 
variety in the details of construction. Since the first 
" common pan," a very simple apparatus, came into 
use, many inventors have exercised their ingenuity in 
devising improvements ; and at present there are 
several different patterns, each of which has some 
special claim for excellence, and finds its advocates 



58 . NEVADA, 

among the practical mill-men of the district. The 
common features are a round tub, usually of cast-iron, 
(but sometimes having wooden sides) four to six feet 
in diameter, and about two feet deep, and having a 
hollow pillar cast in the center. Within this pillar 
there is an upright shaft, which projects above the 
top of the pillar, but is set in motion by gearing below 
the pan. To the top of this shaft is attached, by 
means of a key, a yoke or driver, by which the muller, 
or upper grinding surface, is made to revolve. To the 
bottom of the pan, on the inside, is fixed a false bottom 
of iron, cast either in sections, commonly called dies, 
or in one piece, having a diameter a little less than 
that of the pan, and with a hole in the center, adjusted 
to the central pillar. This false bottom serves as the 
lower grinding surface. The muller forming the upper 
grinding surface is usually a circular plate of iron, 
corresponding in size and form to the false bottom just 
described. In diameter it is nearly equal to that of 
the pan, and in form it is flat, conical, or conoidal, 
according to the shape of the pan-bottom. Its under 
side is furnished with shoes, or facings of iron, about 
an inch thick, which may be removed when worn 
down, and replaced by new ones. The muller is 
attached to the driver, which is put on over the central 
pillar of the pan, and, being connected with the in- 
terior upright shaft, as above described, is then caused 
to revolve. There are various appliances for raising 
or lowering the muller, so that it may rest with its 




Combination Pan. 

[Page 58.] 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 59 

whole weight upon the pan-bottom, in order to pro- 
duce the greatest grinding effect, or be maintained at 
any desired distance above it when less friction or 
mere agitation is required. Various devices are also 
in use for giving proper motion to the pulp, so that 
when the muller is revolving the particles may be kept 
constantly in circulation, passing between the grinding 
surfaces, and coming into contact with the quicksilver. 
Some pans are cast with a hollow chamber, an inch or 
two deep, in the bottom, for the admission of steam in 
order to heat the pulp, while others employ only " live- 
strain," which is delivered directly into the pulp by a 
pipe for that purpose. 

The operation of the pan consists in the further 
reduction or grinding of the stamped rock to a fine 
pulp, and in the extraction of the precious metals by 
amalgamation with quicksilver. The quantity of ore 
with which a pan is charged for a single operation 
varies from 600 to 800 pounds, according to the size 
of the pan. The ordinary charge of pans, most gen- 
erally in use at present, is 1,200 to 1,500 pounds. 

In charging the pan the muller is raised a little from 
the bottom, so as to revolve freely ; water is supplied 
by a hose-pipe, and, at the same time, the sand is 
thrown into the pan with a shovel. Steam is admitted, 
either to the steam-chamber in the bottom of the pan, 
or directly into the pulp. The muller is gradually 
lowered, after the commencement of the grinding 
operation, and is allowed to make about sixty or 



6o NEVADA, 

seventy revolutions per minute. In the course of an 
hour or two the sand is reduced to a fine, pulpy con- 
dition. When this has been accomplished, a supply 
of quicksilver is introduced into the pan, the muller 
slightly raised from the bottom, to avoid too great 
friction, which would act to the disadvantage of the 
quicksilver, and the action continued for two hours 
longer, during which the amalgamation is in process. 
The quicksilver is supplied by pressing it through 
canvas, so as to scatter it upon the pulp in a finely 
divided condition. The quantity varies greatly in 
different mills, the ordinary supply being about sixty 
or seventy pounds to a charge of ore consisting of 
1,200 or 1,500 pounds. In some mills a quantity 
varying from seventy-five to two hundred or even 
three hundred pounds is put into a pan when starting 
after a clean-up, and subsequently a regular addition 
of fifty to sixty pounds is made with each charge. 

To promote amalgamation, it is the general cus- 
tom to add to the charge various ingredients, popularly 
spoken of as " chemicals," which usually consist of 
sulphate of copper and salt, and are introduced along 
with the quicksilver, or about the beginning of the 
grinding process. The quantity used varies from a 
quarter or a half a pound to three or four pounds to each 
charge of ore, the two substances being employed in 
very variable proportions in different mills. 

Two hours having been devoted to the grinding and 
two or three more to the amalgamation, the contents 




Settler. 

[Page 60.] 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 6 1 

of the pan are run off into a settler, or separator. The 
discharge of the pan is usually aided by a supply of 
water, which dilutes the pulp and permits it to run 
freely from the pan into the settler. The pan, being 
emptied and partly washed out by the stream of water, 
is again charged with a fresh quantity of sand, and the 
grinding operation is resumed without delay. 

SETTLERS OR SEPARATORS. 

These, like the pans, differ somewhat in the details 
of construction. They usually are round tubs of iron, 
or wood with cast-iron bottoms, resembling the pans 
in general features, but larger in diameter. They have 
the same cone and shaft as the pan, but instead of the 
muller they have several arms extending from the cen- 
ter to the circumference of the settler. The arms 
carry a number of plows or stirrers, of various devices, 
usually terminating in blocks of hard wood, that rest 
lightly on the bottom ; no grinding is required, but a 
gentle stirring, or agitation of the pulp, is necessary to 
facilitate the settling of the amalgam and the quick- 
silver. The stirring apparatus makes about fifteen 
revolutions per minute. The settler is usually placed 
in front of the pan, and on a lower level, so that the 
pan is readily discharged into it. In some mills two 
pans are discharged into one settler, the operation of 
settling occupying four hours, the time the pan takes 
to grind and amalgamate another charge. In other 
mills, the settling is allowed only two hours, and the 



62 NEVADA, 

two pans connected with any one settler are discharged 
alternately. 

The consistency of the pulp in the settler is consid- 
erably reduced by the water used in discharging the 
pan, and by a further supply, which, in many mills, is 
kept flowing during the settling operation. In other 
mills, however, the pulp is brought from the pan into 
the settler, with the addition of as little water as pos- 
sible, and allowed to settle for a time by the gentle 
agitation of the slowly revolving agitator, after which 
cold water is added in a constant stream. The quan- 
tity of water used and the speed of the stirring ap- 
paratus are important matters in the operation of set- 
tling, or separating, as they affect the consistency of 
the pulp. As the object of the process is to allow the 
quicksilver and amalgam to separate themselves from 
the pulp, and settle to the bottom of the vessel, it is 
desirable that the consistency of the pulp should be 
such that the lighter particles may be kept in suspen- 
sion by a gentle movement, while the heavier particles 
fall to the bottom. If the pulp be too thick, the metal 
will remain suspended ; and if it be too thin, the sand 
will settle with it. If the motion of the agitators be 
too rapid or too slow, similar results will follow, be- 
cause too rapid a motion will prevent the quicksilver 
from resting on the bottom, while, if the motion be too 
slow, the coarser sand will not be kept in circulation. 
A discharge hole, near the top of the settler, permits 
the water carrying the lighter portion of the pulp to 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 63 

run off. This point of discharge is lowered by with- 
drawing the plugs from a series of similar holes, placed 
one below the other, down the side of the settler, so 
that, finally, all the pulp is drawn off, leaving nothing 
in the settler but the quicksilver and amalgam. There 
are various devices for discharging these. Usually, 
there is a groove or channel in the bottom of the set- 
tler, leading to a bowl, from which the fluid amalgam 
may be dipped, or allowed to run out by withdrawing 
a plug. 

The amalgam is carefully cleaned by washing it 
with water, thus removing from its surface all im- 
purities, such as heavy particles of dirt, pyrites, etc. 
When properly cleaned, the amalgam is strained 
through a canvas filter or conical bag, ten or twelve 
inches in diameter at the top, and two or three feet 
long. The quicksilver is drained off, and returned to 
the pans for further use, and the amalgam is taken to 
the retort. 

RETORTING AND MELTING. 



The amalgam, having been strained in the bags and 
firmly pressed, in order to expel as much of the fluid 
quicksilver as possible, is then subjected to the process 
of sublipiation, by which means the quicksilver is sep- 
arated from the gold and silver. This is effected in a 
cast-iron retort. The quicksilver, condensing in the 
exhaust pipe, falls into a receiver, placed under the 
end of the pipe, which is nearly full of water. The 



64 NEVADA, 

end of the exhaust pipe dips below the surface of the 
water to keep out the air, but not enough to permit 
the passage of the water into the heated retort. The 
amalgam being placed in the retort, and the door 
properly adjusted and luted with clay, the fire is 
lighted, and heat is applied, at first very gently, and 
afterward gradually increased. If heated too strongly 
at first, the surface of the bullion in contact with the 
retort is liable to fuse and prevent the escape of 
quicksilver from the central part. The charge is 
about 1,200 pounds. The firing usually occupies 
about eight hours. When quicksilver ceases to vol- 
atilize, the retort is gradually cooled down, and the 
bullion withdrawn. About one-sixth of the original 
charge usually remains crude bullion. This retorted 
amalgam is broken up, melted, and cast in ingots 
ready for market or the mint. 

THE FIRST MILL. 

The first mill for reduction of the silver ores of the 
Comstock, in fact of the State of Nevada, was built on 
Gold Caiion, near Silver City, and about three miles 
southerly from Virginia City. 

This site was selected as most likely to afford a suf- 
ficient supply of water for steam and milling purposes. 
This mill was commenced on the 24th day of May, 
i860, and started running on the nth day of August, 
of the same year. It consisted of twenty-four stamps 
and twenty-four pans, and cost $50,000. It was 




Agitator 

[Page 62.] 




Retorts. 



[Page 64.] 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 65 

built by Mr. Almarin B. Paul, an experienced quartz 
miner, from Nevada County, California. This mill is 
not only conspicuous as being the first, but as the one 
to inaugurate an entire new system for the reduction 
of silver ores — we refer here to the one which we 
have just described, the Washoe pan process. 

Mr. Paul, before embarking in his mill enterprise, 
conceived the idea that a more expeditious plan should 
be sought out than the German barrel process, or the 
Mexican patio — the only two then generally in use — 
and to this end commenced a series of experiments in 
iron pans, which resulted so satisfactorily as to de- 
termine his course. 

The mill was set to work, but not without many 
misgivings, by those learned in metallurgy, as to its 
proving a success. The first run was on Gold Hill 
ores, which at once solved the problem, and soon elec- 
trified the whole Comstock range, and mill after mill 
soon began to do duty in turning out the precious 
metals. It is somewhat singular that the first silver 
mining in the United States should inaugurate a sys- 
tem especially its own, and so well adapted to the 
seemingly exhaustless Comstock and the expanded 
spirit of the age ; for while both the German barrel 
and the Mexican patio are very slow and expensive, 
this iron pan system is not only cheap, comparatively, 
but in execution it is wonderfully expeditious. 

In the form, size, and speed of these pans there 
have been many changes, and even now they are of 
5 



66 



NEVADA, 



many varieties ; but in the chemistry of the operation 
there has been no change. 

The foregoing description of the various milling 
processes by which the precious metals are extracted 
from the ore may be appropriately followed by a tabu- 
lar statement of the number of the mills themselves, 
their capacity, etc., etc. 



S I<i^t of Quhi'tX kijd Vkiliii^ >iill,^ 



IN 



LYON, ORMSBY, AND STOREY COUNTIES, NEVADA, 



LYON COUNTY. 






Name. 


SiTUATIOX. 


Tons 
Capacity. 


Stamps. 


Devil's Gate 


Silver City . . 

Gold Cafion . 
(i 


24 

30 
40 
40 
20 

30 
10 

20 

20 

25 


I 2 


Pioneer 

Bacon 

Trench 

Horn 


15 
20 
20 
10 


Kelsey : 

Golden Age 

Hope 

Excelsior 

Sacramento 


15 

5 

10 
10 
12 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 



67 



LYON COUNTY (CONTINUED). 



Name. 



Swansea .... 

Atlanta 

Keystone . . . 

Eureka 

Franklin .... 
Woodworth . 

Island 

Carson Valley 

Desert 

Birdsall & Co. 
Reservoir . . . 
Rock Point . . 
Spring Valley 
Daney 



Situation. 



Gold Carion 



Carson River 



Dayton 



Spring Valley 



Tons 
Capacity. 



25 
20 

30 
120 

40 

48 

20 

300 

25 
300 

50 

I 12 

20 

30 



Stamps, 



12 
10 

Tailings 

60 

20 

24 

10 
Tailins^s 



56 

10 

15 



ORMSBY COUNTY, 



Name. 



Mexican .... 
Yellow Jacket 
Brunswick . . . , 
Merrimac ... 

Vivian 

Santiago .... 



Location. 



Empire . . 
Carson River 



Motive. 


S 

< 
H 
C/5 


< 

PL, 


in 


Water 


44 


20 


10 


Steam 


40 


13 


6 


Water 


56 


26 


13 


a 


20 


13 


6 


(( 


16 


8 


7 


u 


34 


9 


18 






120 

75 
150 

45 
40 

80 



These mills are all kept running on Comstock oreS; 
brought from the mines and delivered by the Virginia 
and Truckee Railroad. 



68 



NEVADA, 



STOREY COUNTY. 



Name. 



Boston 

lone 

Succor 

Ramsdale 

Pacific 

Pappoose 

Piute 

Douglas 

Atlas 

Petaluma 

Sapphire 

Rhode Island 

Gold Hill Quartz 

Sunderland 

Hoosier State 

Sierra Nevada 

Evans 

Mariposa 

Sacramento & Meredith 

Winfield 

Atlantic 

Landy 

De Lands 

Nevada 

Empire State 

Park & Bowie No. i . . 
Park & Bowie No. 2 . . 

Occidental 

Lady Bryan 



Location. 



Gold Canon . . . 



Lower Gold Hill 



Virginia 



Seven-mile Can. 

u 

Cedar Hill 

Seven-mile Can. 



Six-mile Cafion 

Virginia 

Six-mile Canon 



Silver Star Dist. 
Six-mile Caiion . 



Motive. 



in •< 

c ^ 



Steam 



5 
5 

15 

2 

30 

5 

20 

15 

15 
24 

15 
25 
8 
10 
18 
20 

5 
12 

20 

20 

12 

20 

15 
20 

15 



20 
10 



15 

25 

5 

70 

14 
50 
30 
45 
75 
40 

50 
18 

25 
40 

50 
13 
30 
50 
50 
30 
50 
35 

50 
40 



50 




Hoist, with Spur Gear, Reversing Engine, Clutch 

and Brake. 



[Page 68.] 



I 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 69 

Having acquainted our readers with these various 
aspects of the great mineral wealth of Nevada, we now 
introduce to them sketches of some of the principal 
mines which have aided so much in its development, 
and have secured so large a share of the great prize. 




Pumping Bob. 



[Page 70.] 



J^ SKETCH 



PRINCIPAL SILVER MINES IN NEVADA. 



This claim deserves to be mentioned first, for it was 
on this ground that the Comstock Lode was discovered 
in 1859. Incorporated in April, i860, the companv 
owning this mine have extracted from it several mil- 
lions of dollars. 

Their new shaft is one of the best on the lode. Its 
pumping and hoisting machinery is ample and admira- 
ble. Indeed, their whole establishment is constructed 
with a view to _ permanent and expensive operations, 
and is provided with such auxiliaries as smith, carpen- 
ter, and repair shops. Recently, this company has 
struck large bodies of ore, the general course of which 
is to the northeast. As these bodies are constantly 
increasing in size and richness as they are sunk upon, 
there can be no doubt that they are but the tops of the 



72 NEVADA, 

great mountain range of ore — the peaks, as it were, 
projecting here and there. It is to be expected, there- 
fore, that at a greater depth, say on the 1,700-foot level, 
there will be found a continuous mass of ore. At this 
writing, January 15th, 1875, there are two main depos- 
its, called the east and west, with smaller deposits 
making below and on a line with them. These bod- 
ies of ore are first encountered on the 1,300-foot level, 
but on the 1,465-foot level they have greatly increased 
in size and richness, and are already of large propor- 
tions. Near the California line a winze has been sunk 
a distance of thirty-five feet below the 1,465-foot level, 
from the bottom of which drifts have been run in va- 
rious directions, disclosing ore of wonderful richness. 
Two hundred feet northward of this winze there has 
been sunk another, called the north winze, which is 
down forty feet below the 1,465-foot level, in ore assay- 
ing as high as $1,500. In this winze is being found 
much black sulphuret ore, containing small spangles 
of free gold. The stratification cut in the winze shows 
that the ore body is making strongly to the north. 

In the California, about thirty feet south of the 
south line of the Ophir, a crosscut has been run 
west through 147 feet of ore, much of which is of 
very fine quality. This is no doubt a portion of the 
ridge of the bonanza, making up through the Califor- 
nia, and falling into the general northeast course of 
the line of ore bodies now being explored in the Ophir. 
Two crosscuts are being advanced from the 1,465-foot 




Safety Cage. 

[Page 72. J 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 73 

level of the Ophir in an easterly direction, and have 
already progressed far beyond the known bodies of 
ore on the level. In both of these crosscuts are en- 
countered very favorable indications ; and, in the one 
running to the northeast, low-grade ore is beginning 
to make its appearance. 

Number of feet in the Ophir claim, 675. Number 
• of shares, 100,800. Last assessment levied. May 14th, 
1875. Number of dividends, twenty-two. Last divi- 
dend, March, 1864. Total amount dividends disbursed, 
$1,394,400. 



doq^olidated Vii^^iqia ki|el d^lifofi\i^, 



The following, from the pen of Henry De Groot, 
Esq., is an excellent description of the wonderful 
bonanza of the Consolidated Virginia and California 
mines. 

" The ' Bonanza Mines ' of the Comstock occupy a 
section of that lode situate near the northerly extrem- 
ity of what has thus far proved to be the more fertile 
portion thereof. This section, which covers 1,310 
linear feet, lying between the Ophir on the north 
and the Best & Belcher on the south, was formerly 
subdivided into six company claims, viz., the Central, 



74 NEVADA, 

California, Central No. 2, the Kinney, the White & 
Murphy, and the Sides. The first important mineral 
discovery made on the Comstock Lode occurred in the 
Ophir, near the boundary line between that and the 
Mexican claim, whence the ore body ran north 175 
and south 240 feet. It was of lenticular form, and 
went down 600 feet, its maximum breadth being 
eighteen feet. This was known as the ' Ophir Bo-- 
nanza,' and served to first brino; the ^reat Washoe 
lode into notoriety, and thus inaugurate the era of sil- 
ver mining in the States and Territories west of the 
Rocky Mountains. The ore here was nearly all of 
high grade, and but for the imperfect manner in which 
it was worked, or otherwise injudiciously disposed of, 
should have netted the owners large profits. Within 
three or four years from the time of its discovery this 
bonanza was exhausted, having yielded a gross bullion 
product of about ^15,000,000. 

" During a period of twelve years, reaching from 
1859 to 1 87 1, no very thorough exploration was made 
of this group of claims, the deepest shaft put down 
upon them, that on the Central, having attained no 
greater depth than 620 feet. A number of tunnels 
were here driven into and through the lode, intersect- 
ing it at depths varying from 300 to 600 feet ; two of 
these, the Mount Davidson and Latrobe, having been 
extensive and costly works. None of them succeeded, 
however, in developing any deposits of magnitude or 
value. In 1861, some feeble streaks of gold-bearing 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 75 

quartz were struck at a depth of 250 feet in the White 
& Murphy shaft, several small bunches of good ore 
having previously been encountered in the California 
ground ; but, beyond these, nothing worthy of special 
mention was met with in this series of locations while 
under their early regime. 

" In the meantime, heavy bodies of ore had been 
opened up in the Gould & Curry, the Savage, and the 
Hale & Norcross, and, in fact, at intervals all the way 
to the Overman mine, south of Gold Hill. Along 
that portion of the mother lode there had occurred 
several barren spaces of considerable length, yet 
hardly any so prolonged or hopelessly sterile as this 
more northerly section thereof, which, by reason of 
these failures extending through so many years, came 
at last to be regarded as the mauvais terre and forlorn 
hope of the Comstock. What tended finally to dis- 
courage deeper exploration was the fact that the Ophir 
bonanza had given out at about the level of the deepest 
shaft put down here, the still larger ore body uncovered 
in the Gould & Curry having also terminated at a little 
more than 1,000 feet below the surface, the additional 
depth to which it held being supposed to bear some 
relation to the greater size of this bonanza. To these 
facts many attached much significance, arguing that 
they indicated about the depths at which the fruitful 
zone along the entire Comstock channel might be 
expected to terminate. 

" But there were others who, after carefully and in- 



76 NEVADA, 

telHgently studying this matter, came to a dififerent con- 
clusion ; who, in view of the geological features and 
the surroundings of this lode, its masterly proportions 
and the magnitude of the ore bodies already found be- 
tween its walls, believed it to occupy a broad, far-de- 
scending, and fertile fissure, which required only more 
profound exploration to reach at many points along it 
the deep-lying repositories of an illimitable wealth. By 
comparison this was found to be very similar in its 
conditions and structure to the great historic veins of 
other and older mining countries, some of which, after 
centuries of large and steady production, were known 
to be still in bonanza ; wherefore, it was inferred that 
an experience not greatly unlike that which had attend- 
ed the deep exploration of these time-tested lodes 
awaited like operations upon this. 

" Conspicuous among those who held to this hopeful 
theory were the present principal owners of the Con- 
solidated Virginia and California mines, Messrs. John 
W. Mackey, James G. Fair, James C. Flood, and Wil- 
liam S. O'Brien, all of whom entertained such confi- 
dence even in this neglected and all but abandoned 
portion of the mother vein, that they were willing to 
hazard as much of their means as would suffice to 
make something like a determinate test of its merits. 
Having for several years been associated together in 
the prosecution of various mining enterprises on the 
Comstock belt, these parties, so confiding in the mineral 
wealth of this ground, concluded, in the fall of 1 871, to 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 77 

interest themselves actively in its development ; or at 
least of such portion thereof as they might be able to 
subject to their own management; title to and the di- 
rection of a very considerable linear section of the 
main ore channel having been with them controlling 
considerations from the first. The impolicy of a too 
diffused ownership and of erecting costly plant and 
making other heavy expenditure on claims of limited 
extent, had already received such ample illustration 
through the numerous failures that had occurred in 
the vicinity of Gold Hill, that this firm resolved to 
avoid these fatal defects by providing against them at 
the start ; and it must be conceded that the plan of ex- 
tinguishing these small proprietary interests, and sub- 
jecting a number of the claims held under them to a 
single business administration, has gained much in pop- 
ularity since its advantages have been so signally ex- 
emplified in the history of the mines we are about to 
consider. 

" The owners of the California, the Sides, and the 
White & Murphy claims had several years before in- 
corporated a company under the name of the Consoli- 
dated Virginia, with a capital stock of $1,000,000, di- 
vided into 10,000 shares of the nominal value of $100 
each, and had commenced sinking a shaft, which at 
this time had reached a depth of about 400 feet. Be- 
lieving that the possessions of this company constitut- 
ed an eligible portion of this barren section upon 
which to operate, the firm, in pursuance of the plan 



78 NEVADA, 

marked out, bought up a majority of their stock at an 
average price of about $9 per share, being at the rate 
of $96,300 for the entire set of claims. 

" In embarking in this scheme these parties did not 
consider it specially hazardous. They expected to take 
some risks, but did not, like many others at that time, 
consider them desperate ones. It should be remem- 
bered that the leading features of the Comstock vein 
had by this time come to be pretty well understood. 
Its true inclination and strike, the shape and pitch of 
its fertile chimneys, the character of its walls and coun- 
try rock, as well as the great magnitude of its ore chan- 
nel and the nature of its contents, had been carefully 
investigated and definitely settled. Elaborate surveys 
of its underground workings, illustrated by diagrams 
and able dissertations on the origin and structure of 
the lode, had been published to the world, these latter 
promulgating with great unanimity the doctrine that 
the isolated ore bodies would continue to recur at ir- 
regular intervals in depth, separated from each other, 
both horizontally and vertically, by masses of barren 
vein matter. As most well-informed miners, and others 
interested in divining the future of the Comstock, were 
conversant with these matters, it is fair to infer that the 
prime movers in this enterprise acted with an enlight- 
ened comprehension of all the facts making for or 
against the probabilities of a fortunate issue. 

" Immediately on gaining direction of affairs, the 
new administration resumed work on the shaft already 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 79 

started, replacing the small engine on the ground with 
one of greater power, adding a third compartment, and 
otherwise improving the structure, this being the same 
shaft, enlarged and deepened, now in use by the Con- 
solidated Virginia Company, and through which most 
of their hoisting and pumping has been performed. 
By July, this shaft had reached a depth of 500 feet, 
when a drift was run from its bottom, and crosscut- 
tings made both to the east and west, some portions of 
these having been in low-grade ore. In the early part 
of the year, a drift had been started at the northern 
extremity of the 1,167-foot level of the Gould & Curry 
mine, and thence continued north, with the design of 
its being ultimately connected with the Consolidated 
Virginia main shaft. In September following, excavat- 
ing for the foundation of the new hoisting works was 
begun, the rapidly increasing depth of the shaft render- 
ing the early construction of more powerful works of 
this kind necessary. 

" During the year 1872, three assessments, aggregat- 
ing $212,400, were imposed upon the stockholders, the 
shares of the company having in December previous 
been increased to 23,600, of the nominal value of 
^300 each, swelling the capital stock to $1,080,000. 
During the year the prices of shares underwent a 
series of pretty sharp changes, having advanced from 
$27, the highest figure in January, to $200 in June, 
and then fallen to $87 by the end of December, many 
minor fluctuations having meantime occurred. 



8o NEVADA, 

" By the opening of 1873 the main shaft had attained 
a depth of 600 feet, while the drift being brought in 
from the Gould & Curry had been well advanced. 
Though driven outside and nearly thirty feet to the 
east of the ledge, this drift had already cut numerous 
quartz stringers and small bunches of ore ; indicating 
the presence of heavier mineral deposits to the west. 
By the first of March the entire face of this drift was 
in ore of fair grade ; this stratum, on being afterwards 
crosscut, proving to be here about fifteen feet thick. 
This strike occurred about eighty feet north of the 
dividing line between the Sides and the Best & Belcher 
claims, being at the southern extremity of the great 
bonanza. Early in this month ore extraction at the 
rate of twenty-three tons daily began. This ore milled 
about ^34, assaying from ^50 to ^100 per ton. Cross- 
cuttings were made from this drift at intervals of 100 
feet; the fourth carried in having shown the pay 
material in greatly increased thickness, caused the 
stock of the company to appreciate, in the course of a 
few months, from $40 to $80 per share, a decline to 
$50 following soon after. 

" Up to the middle of March the shaft had made no 
water, being drained by the deeper workings of the 
Ophir and the Gould & Curry companies on either 
hand. As a means of promoting ventilation and facil- 
itating ore extraction, its early connection with the 
drift below became necessary. In order to expedite 
sinking, only two of its compartments were for the 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 51 

time being carried down, that designed for pumping 
being left to be completed afterwards. Owing to the 
length and depth of the drift being driven north from 
the 1,167-foot level of the Gould & Curry, the heat 
here became so great that further crosscutting along it 
was temporarily suspended ; the main work, however, 
being pushed ahead at the rate of three and a half 
feet, while the shaft was put down at the rate of three 
feet per day. In July, 1873, ^ strong flow of hot water 
began to make its way through the face of this drift, 
bringing in so much earth and sand that work here 
had to be abandoned, the attempt to avoid the point 
of this influx by means of a sidecut proving abortive. 
" In August, the shaft having reached a depth of 
1,100 feet, sinking was for the time being intermitted. 
Meanwhile, the pits for the reception of the pump- 
tanks on the 250 and the 500-foot levels were ex- 
cavated, the heavy stone foundations for the new hoist- 
ing works having also been completed, and the ponder- 
ous pumping gear and other machinery put in place 
during the month. Immediately after, the business of 
erecting the various shops and outbuildings soon to be 
needed was entered upon ; the massive escarpment 
wall for the support of the ore-bins, and a tramway 
leading from the mouth of the shaft thereto, was fin- 
ished. The capacious tanks were constructed, and the 
great pumps put down, and by the first of October 
ore-hoisting through the new works commenced, sixty 
tons per day having at first been brought up. Before 
6 



82 NEVADA, 

the end of the month the ore-breasts on the 1,167-foot 
level had opened out to a width of forty feet, the daily 
complement of ore extracted having increased to nearly 
200 tons, one-third of which came to the surface 
through the Gould & Curry shaft, and the balance 
through the new shaft of the company. About this 
time a marked improvement also took place in the 
quality of the ore, which by the end of December was 
found to yield, under the stamps, at the rate of about 
^40 per ton. Instead of the single mill, which at first 
sufficed, the services of five or six were now brought 
into requisition. The underground working force was 
largely augmented, the starting of additional stopes, 
winzes, levels, and drifts having been called for, while 
the w^ork of sinking the main shaft, which had some 
little time before been resumed, was hurried earnestly 
forward, its objective point now being the 1,500-foot 
level of the Gould & Curry, with which it was to be 
connected by a drift, for the purpose of reducing the 
temperature and promoting deep ventilation. A 
branch railroad, connecting the ore-bins with the main 
track, was laid down, greatly cheapening and facilitat- 
ing ore shipment to the mills. Ample supplies of fuel, 
timber, lagging, and other materials were laid in, the 
company's affairs, as well as the condition of their 
mine, presenting by this time a most auspicious aspect. 
The new-found ore body, under active exploration, had 
begun to assume the proportions of a regular bonanza ; 
the drifts carried east from the main shaft on the 1,000 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 53 

and 1,200-foot levels having established its vertical 
continuity for 200 feet at least, while the crosscuts run 
from the 1,167-foot level showed it to extend horizon- 
tally between 300 and now 400 feet. Daily ore ex- 
traction exceeded 200 tons, and the monthly ship- 
ments of bullion had risen to a quarter of a million 
of dollars. The Consolidated Virginia mine had, in 
fact, before the end of the year 1873, fairly entered 
upon that career which, having already surpassed the 
expectations of the most sanguine, promises to raise it 
to pre-eminence in the annals of mining. 

On the 1 8th of October, 1873, the trustees of the 
company, at a meeting held for the purpose, increased 
their capital stock from $7,080,000, divided into 23,600 
shares, to $10,800,000, represented by 108,000 shares 
of the par value of $100 each. The shares of this 
company, which at the beginning of 1873 had ruled at 
about $40 on the Stock and Exchange Board, went up 
in the month of March to $80, after which, having 
fluctuated from $50 to $Sd through the next six 
months, they rapidly advanced, touching $285 by the 
end of October, and $400 at the close of the year, 
reckoned on the basis of the old issue, being about 
$So for the new shares. 

" In December of this year the California Company 
was organized, the Virginia management conveying to 
them the California claim, and receiving in return 58? 
per cent, of the new company's stock, which was after- 
wards distributed pro rata among their own share- 



84 NEVADA, 

holders. Under this arrangement, the ConsoHdated 
Virginia Company retained the Sides and the White 
& Murphy ground, comprising 710 Hnear feet, while 
the California Company took the Central, California, 
Central No. 2, and the Kinney claims, embracing 600 
feet ; the amount of capital stock and the value of 
shares of the new company having been made to cor- 
respond with those of the Consolidated Virginia. 

"On the nth day of May, the company declared 
their first dividend, amounting to three dollars 
per share. In June, they commenced the erection 
of the capacious ,and well-equipped sixty stamp 
mill destroyed in the late fire, this having been their 
individual property. 

" Summarizing the work performed, the develop- 
ments made, and the improvements perfected or en- 
tered upon during this year, the following comprise 
the more important items that go to make up this 
list: The drift on the 1,167-foot level of the Gould & 
Curry was carried north through the California ground 
and connected with the south drift of the Ophir on the 
same level, the ore developments made on the 1,300 
and 1,400-foot levels having so extended themselves 
toward the California as to prove conclusively the 
presence of the bonanza in that ground ; the drift lead- 
ing in from the 1,500-foot level of the Gould & Curry 
was carried forward and connected with the north 
winze of the ConsoHdated Virginia, reducing the tem- 
perature and purifying the air in the lower levels of 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 8^ 

the mine, to the great comfort of the workmen, this 
drift having afterwards been continued on the north. 
Owing to the excessive hardness of the rock encoun- 
tered here, the Burleigh machine drill was introduced 
and set to work with excellent results, the compressor 
having furnished not only motive power for doing the 
severest part of the labor, but also large supplies of 
fresh air to the mine. Early in the summer, a large 
working shaft having three compartments was com- 
menced near the line between this and the California 
ground, and which, being intended for the joint use 
and benefit of both companies, was designated the 
combination shaft — usually abbreviated to 'C. & C.,' 
the initials of the two companies. During the year, 
the old shaft was carried down from the 1,300 to the 
1,500-foot level, the daily ore extraction having been 
increased meantime from 200 to 400 tons. 

"As this shaft advanced downward new levels 
were carried off from it and new stations opened up, 
additional stopes, drifts, and winzes having been exca- 
vated as the work of exploration extended. The ore 
body was traced from the 1,000 to the 1,500-foot level, 
growing steadily richer as followed downward. It was 
also found to spread out wherever crosscuts had been 
run or stoping carried on. The troubles experienced 
from vitiated air and excessive heat had, through the 
employment of improved ventilators and a more thor- 
ough connection of the underground works with the 
several drifts run north from the Gould & Curry, been 



86 NEVADA, 

steadily diminishing, but little water having up to this 
time made its appearance, even in the lower levels of 
the mine. . 

" Throughout 1874, shares of the Consolidated stock 
ran a course not unlike that of the year previous. Open- 
ing in January at $85, they kept fluctuating over a nar- 
row margin till October, when they begun to go up, 
reaching ^iio by the middle of that month and $580 
before the close of the year, California shares having 
undergone similar changes in the interim. This ad- 
vance, though unprecedented, was not purely specu- 
lative, the vast wealth of this mine, as well as that of the 
California, its great compeer, having by this time be- 
come well established and its fame spread far abroad. 

" Prior to 1874 the ground set apart for the California 
Company had not been prospected in depth, no work 
having been done upon it other than that performed 
by the original owners. This year the drifts being run 
on the 1,300, 1,400, and 1,500-foot levels of the Con- 
solidated Virginia were carried north and connected 
with those on corresponding levels of the Ophir, the 
object being to secure better ventilation in these mines, 
and open up the California ground, into which crosscuts 
were run east from these several levels immediately 
after they had been connected. Having reached the 
ore-body already opened up in the ground adjacent 
the crosscuts were sufficiently extended before the end 
of the year to determine for the California mine a 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 87 

prospective value not inferior to that of its already re- 
nowned neighbor on the south. 

"The year 1875, though not signalized by any new 
mineral discoveries or serious disasters to the mines 
themselves, was nevertheless pregnant with misfortune 
to these companies and their shareholders, crushing 
depreciations having taken place in their stocks, while 
a dire conflagration, occurring towards its close, con- 
sumed their large accumulations of lumber, fuel, and 
other material, and left their magnificent plant in ruins. 
These depreciations did not, however, result from any 
diminution of value in the mines themselves, havino- 
happened at a time wlien their reputed wealth was re- 
ceiving the fullest confirmation ; nor did the destruc- 
tion of property occasioned by this fire cause more 
than a temporary interregnum of bullion production, 
the reserve fund on hand at the time of its occurrence 
having, with the reduced earnings afterwards made, 
enabled the Consolidated Virginia Company to con- 
tinue payment of their regular monthly dividends, not 
one of which has yet been, or is likely soon to be 
intermitted. 

"Early this year, the large steam mill, begun in the 
preceding month of June, having been brought to 
completion, was started up, with a crushing capacity of 
225 tons every twenty-four hours. An additional 
twenty-five or thirty tons might have been put through 
the batteries, had there been sufficient amalgamating 
apparatus to dispose of the pulp. Viewed as a whole, 



88 NEVADA, 

this was without doubt the most perfect and effective 
structure of the kind in existence, the convenient 
arrangements made for handhng and treating the ores, 
and the many labor-saving contrivances introduced, 
conferring upon it a reduction capacity much larger 
than its motive power and number of stamps would 
alone indicate. Some idea of its proportions and 
working capabilities may be gained from the fact that 
the inclosing building, apart from shops, offices, and 
other minor adjuncts, covered an area of more than 
26,000 square feet. The machinery, constructed after 
the best models, and massive beyond precedent, was 
propelled by a steam engine of 700 horse- power, five 
pairs of enormous boilers having supplied the steam 
required for driving it. Twelve self-feeding batteries, 
carrying each five 800-pound stamps, thirty-two capa- 
cious pans, and sixteen settlers constituted a few of the 
more prominent features of this gigantic establishment, 
the construction, outfitting, and appendages of which 
cost the owners over half a million of dollars. 

"At the beginning of this year, daily ore extraction 
approximated 400 tons, the monthly out-turn of bullion 
having soon run up to ^1,000,000. By October, 600 
tons of ore, of the average value of ^100, were brought 
to the surface every day, the bullion made that month 
amounting to ^1,812,000— a sum that might easily 
have been increased to two millions, could means 
have been obtained for reducinor the ore. 

" On the 18th day of January, the capital stock of 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 89 

the California Company was increased to $54,000,000, 
divided into 540,000 shares of the par value of $100 
each ; a like increase of capital and shares being now 
contemplated by the Consolidated Virginia Company 
also. Up to the i ith day of March, 1875, the monthly 
dividends declared by this company had been at the 
rate of three dollars per share. At that date, these 
dividends were increased to ten dollars per share, at 
which rate they have since been kept up. With the 
enormous reserves previously established, there being 
no necessity for keeping exploration so much ahead 
of ore extraction, this branch of work, as the year ad- 
vanced, was gradually abated. Crosscutting and other 
labor directed towards opening up the ore-body already 
discovered continued, however, to be prosecuted on a 
broad scale, numerous air winzes, drifts, and other pas- 
sages tending to promote ventilation and facilitate the 
raising of ore, having also been excavated. The main 
drift north on the 1,400-foot level was pushed nearly 
to the Ophir line ; upraises were made from the 1,300- 
foot level to ascertain the extent of ore and character 
of the ledge above; the 1,500-foot level was enlarged 
throughout, and a double car track laid along it. In 
order to further purify the air in the lowest workings 
of the mine, a winze of extra large size was raised from 
the 1,500-foot level to that next above it, while the di- 
mensions of the 1,600-foot level were increased for the 
same purpose. 

" About the middle of the year, two mills, intended 



90 NEVADA, 

for reducing the California ores, were commenced by 
tlie ' Bonanza Firm,' one of diese being designed for 
die crushing and the other for the amalgamating ser- 
vice. The reason for their introducing a feature so 
novel in mill construction arose from the following 
condition of thinfjs : The ore from the California mine 
will for a good while yet, and until the C. & C. shaft 
is completed, have to be raised through the Consoli- 
dated Virginia shaft. To save ore transportation, the 
battery mill was therefore located as near that point as 
possible, while the amalgamating establishment, to 
which the pulp can be run through pipes, thereby 
saving all cost of carriage, was placed half a mile be- 
low the proper site for it, and near which the other 
will most likely be transferred when the new shaft is 
finished. There was, moreover, an inefficiency of room 
for both establishments in the vicinity of the upper 
shaft. Both of these mills were projected on an ex- 
tensive scale, care having been taken that they should 
be built in a thoroughly substantial manner, and be 
outfitted in accordance with the most advanced ideas 
extant, the two being in their respective departments 
almost the counterpart of the Consolidated Virginia 
mill. Although carrying the same number of stamps 
as the latter, their united capacity, owing to increased 
motive power and a large number of pans, was some- 
what greater. The provision made here for concen- 
tratino; the tailinQ:s and savingr the slimes is of the 
most perfect kind, some improvements on the modes 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 9 1 

and apparatus in use below the Virginia mill having 
been introduced. 

" As the year wore on, work on the Combination 
shaft kept pace with the advancing months. Though 
retarded at times by the influx of water, sinking was 
never interrupted for more than a few days in succes- 
sion. This shaft has now reached a depth of 940 feet, 
is rigged with powerful steam pumps and hoisting 
gear, and well timbered throughout. 

" In the midst of so much prosperity and progress, 
the already enormous out-put of ore rapidly increasing, 
with every mill in the country fully employed, a sud- 
den but not wholly unexpected calamity fell upon 
these companies, as well as upon the stirring town and 
the well-to-do community of miners so largely de- 
pendent upon them for employment and support. 

" Early in the morning of October 26th a fire broke 
out in the westerly and more combustible portion of 
Virginia City, and, fanned at the start by a lively breeze 
that soon swelled to a driving gale, almost immediate- 
ly gained such headway as to render futile every effort 
to stay its progress. Situated on the declivity of a 
steep and rugged mountain, the starting point of the 
fire to windward and above it, an avalanche of flame 
rolled at once over the hapless city. So swiftly did the 
devastating element move onward that the inhabitants, 
having lost all else, had only to congratulate themselves 
that they had been able to escape with their lives. 
Before nightfall, three-fourths of the business portion 



92 NEVADA, 

of the town was laid waste, the buildings with their 
contents, over an area of more than a hundred acres, 
being all burned up. Only some blackened walls and 
charred timbers remained where a few hours before 
stood the most self reliant, thrifty, intensely active 
mining town in the world. Besides the principal part 
of the city itself, the splendid hoisting works of the 
Ophir Company, the Consolicftited Virginia mill and 
hoisting works, and the unfinished California battery 
mill, together with the elevated tramways, ore-bins, re- 
torting, refining, and assaying houses, the shops, offi- 
ces, and all the other costly appurtenances of these 
several establishments, were wholly consumed ; the 
losses of the two last named companies, corporate and 
individual, those arising from interrupted business and 
other indirect causes included, having amounted to sev- 
eral million dollars. The insurance that had been ef- 
fected upon this property was comparatively small — 
less than ^50,000, all told. 

"With characteristic enterprise and energy, these 
companies proceeded amidst the smoking embers to re- 
build their ruined works, constructing the same after 
their former superior models, not omitting to adopt 
such standard improvements as might have come into 
vogue since they were first put up, nor neglecting any 
alterations or additions their further experience might 
suggest. All the men that could be employed to ad- 
vantage were set to work, and almost before the fire- 
swept foundations were cold the new structures arose 



THE I.AND OF SILVER. 93 

upon them ; and with such expedition has the business 
of their reconstruction been pushed that the works 
destroyed are ah-eady completed and in operation. 

" The Combination shaft, with the hoisting works, 
shops, and other buildings attached ; the pan mill of 
the California Company, and the Consolidated Virginia 
and Ophir shafts escaped the ravages of the fire, these 
shafts having been pres'erved by springing the cages a 
few feet below the surface and covering them with a 
thick layer of earth. By this means the flames were 
prevented from burning up the linings of the shafts,* 
and through them communicating with the vast frame- 
work of timbers in the mines below. Had the fire 
reached these, a fearful and all but irreparable devas- 
tation of property must have ensued. 

" During the year 1875, Consolidated Virginia and 
California shares, from $700 and $90, their res- 
pective prices early in January, steadily declined till 
they had reached their lowest point, $260 and $55, in 
the month of November ; after which they made quite 
a sharp advance, reaching ^375 and $65 at the close of 
the year. 

PROBABLE PERMANENCE, ESTIMATED RESERVES, AND PROS- 
PECTIVE PRODUCTION OF THE BONANZA MINES — OPIN- 
IONS OF EXPERTS. 

" As regards the probable downward continuity of 
the ore-body opened up in these two mines, a new set 
of affirmative facts seems likely to be evolved from 



94 NEVADA, 

observations lately made along its containing ore chan- 
nel. Professor Becker, of the University of Califor- 
nia, gives it as his opinion, based on recent examina- 
tion, that the Comstock fissure at a depth of about 
1,500 feet is about to forsake the contact plane be- 
tween the prophylite and the syenite, and enter the 
latter, assuming, at the same time, a more vertical po- 
sition, all of which are to be accepted as conditions 
favorable to the extension of the fissure indefinitely 
downwards, as well, also, as to the permanence of in- 
" eluded masses of ore. 

" Touching the magnitude and value of the bonanza 
partially developed here, each of these mines holding, 
according to present appearances, about an equal por- 
tion thereof, experts are not quite agreed in opinion, 
some estimating the value of the ore in sight, that is, 
the quantity standing above the 1,600-foot level, at 
$300,000,000, while others compute it at a much 
higher figure. In guessing what may be the value of 
the entire bonanza, eminent authority, in view of its 
probable conformation below the 1,600-foot level, has 
fixed it at $1,500,000,000, this estimate being based on 
the supposition that it is of oval or lenticular shape, 
and that its zone of greatest expansion has not yet 
been reached. Adopting round numbers, it may be 
said that this bonanza, as determined by actual ex- 
ploration, has a length of 950, with an extreme breadth 
of 340, and an average breadth of 200 feet. Verti- 
cally it extends at least 600 feet ; measurements show 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 95 

it to contain 84,000,000 cubic feet, being equivalent to 
7,000,000 tons of ore. As this ore will presumably 
yield $100 per ton, we have a bullion production of 
$700,000,000, likely to be realized from the ore already 
developed above the 1,600-foot level. As about two- 
thirds of the 2:ross out-turn will hereafter consist of net 
profits, there should be disbursed in dividends a frac- 
tion over $466,000,000 by the time the ore above this 
level is exhausted, even though none below it be in the 
interim extracted. 

" These, to many, may seem extravagant conclu- 
sions, yet they are inferentially warranted by the data 
here adduced, the most of which are well substantiated, 
none resting on mere supposition or assumption. 
We have been so little accustomed to the use of these 
large figures when considering the product of a single 
or any small number of mines, that we naturally shrink 
from their employment, as well as distrust them when 
employed by others. It is scarcely more than a year 
since Philip Deidesheimer, an experienced Comstock 
superintendent, and one of the most accomplished 
mining engineers of the age, startled our propriety 
with an estimate embracing essentially the views above 
set forth. So extravagant, however, did these opinions 
then appear, that they inspired the public incredulity 
to an extent almost bordering on derision. Explora- 
tions since carried on in these mines have already so 
far vindicated that orentleman's estimates as to wholly 



96 NEVADA, 

relieve him from the suspicion of lunacy, and seem- 
ingly endow him with the gift of prophetic vision. 

" In so far as immediate results are concerned, these 
mines will unquestionably be able to make, for some 
years at least, an enormously large and profitable pro- 
duction of bullion. As soon as the new mills are 
fairly under way, it is expected that their out-turn of 
gold and silver will be at the rate of $4,000,000 per 
month. If, after the completion of the C. & C. shaft, 
additional mills shall be set to work upon the ore from 
these mines, then the quantity of the precious metals 
turned out will, within certain limits, be augmented in 
the ratio of these increased milling facilities ; in which 
view of future contingencies there arises the likelihood 
that monthly production here may, within a year or 
two, be swollen to $6,000,000; whence there would 
annually accrue, on the basis of profits above assumed, 
net revenues to the amount of $48,000,000. More 
than half this sum would fall to the share of the 
' Bonanza Firm.' 

" The total vield of the Consolidated Viro^inia mine 
to date amounts to over $26,000,000, of which 
$15,000,000, being net earnings, have been paid to the 
stockholders in dividends, being at the rate of $140 
per share. The last dividend disbursed, aggregating 
$1,080,000 — ten dollars per share — was declared on 
the 5th instant." 

From the superintendent's report for 1875 we take 
the following interesting items : 



the land of silver. 97 

superintendent's report, 

" During the past year, 169,307 462-2000 tons of ore 
have been abstracted from all the levels of the Consol- 
idated Virginia mine, and 169,094 1806-2000 tons have 
been reduced, which yielded $16,731,653.43 in bullion. 
There are now at the ore-house and at the mills 2,988 
194-2000 tons, valued by assay at $478,080. 

" This ore has been taken from the 1,200, 1,300, 
1,400, and 1,500-foot levels, including a small quantity 
which has been gathered in the explorations which have 
been made on the 1,550-foot level. 

" On the 1,300 and 1,1 00- foot levels the ore-bodies 
have not been developed as far as they extend north. 
On the 1,400-foot level the ore has been explored south 
450 feet from the shaft, and it extends north from the 
shaft to the northern boundary of the mine. On this 
(the 1,400-foot) level we know the exact width of the 
ore body. 

"On the 1,500-foot level the ore has been traced 
south for a distance of 480 feet from the northern line, 
and has been thoroughly explored by crosscuts from 
the east wall to the west wall. On this level all the ore 
is of a high grade, and the width of the body varies 
from 150 to 320 feet. The ground south of this is en- 
tirely unexplored. 

" On the 1,550-foot level a lateral drift extends the 
whole length of the mine. Starting at the southern. 
7 



98 NEVADA, 

boundary it runs northerl}' on the east side of the ore 
until it reaches a point 400 feet distant from the north- 
ern line, where it cuts through the clay, and thus passes 
all the way through ore to the northern line. This 
level is only partially developed. None of the cross- 
cuts have yet reached the eastern boundary of the ore. 
The ore on this level is of a better quality than that 
which has been found on any of the levels above. Its 
width, I have no doubt, will prove greater. 

"At a point 320 feet south of the northern line, a 
double winze has been sunk from this (1,550-foot) level 
to the depth of 147 feet. This winze has passed all 
the way througli ore of a very high grade, and termin- 
ates in ore of the same quality. The sinking of this 
winze has been temporarily discontinued on account of 
the increase of water and the limited means of hoisting. 
From this same level, north of the northern line, 
another double winze has been sunk to a depth of 128 
feet, through excellent ore the entire distance, and ter- 
minates in rich ore. The develojoments made by these 
-winzes prove the continuity, at the lower depths, of the 
same ore body which exists on the level above, with an 
appreciation in the quality of the ore. 

" From this same level, (the 1,550-foot) at the south- 
ern boundary, a double winze has also been sunk down 
to the 1,700-foot level. From the bottom of this winze 
a drift has been run north 107 feet. This winze and 
this drift are both east of the ore vein, and consequent- 
ly no information in regard to the ore in this locality 
.and at this depth has been gained -by this work." 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 99 



SECRETARY S REPORT. 



The following report will show the receipts and 
disbursements of the Big Bonanza for the twelve 
months ending January 12th, 1876. 

RECEIPTS. 

Bullion ^16,953,771 39 

Bullion samples Z^l^l 60 

Assay 1,544 44 

Insurance . . , 14,696 25 

Balance Account — Includ- 
ing balances due at last 
annual meeting from Su- 
perintendent, Treasurer, 
and banks, all since paid : 

Bank of California . . .^82,450 43 
J. G. Fair, Sup't 4,655 80 

^87,106 28 
Less, due J. C. Flood, Treas., 08 

87,106 20 

$17,060,885 88 

DISBURSEMENTS. 

James G. Fair, Superintendent $142,471 29 

Cash 639 95 

Nevada Bank 40,462 'jt^ 

Carried forward ^183,573 97 



lOO NEVADA, 

Brought forward ^183,573 97 

Virginia office expenses 6,888 65 

Wood, lumber, and timber 285,437 91 

Repairs 974 31 

Hauling 2,174 18 

Freight 5,550 20 

Sutro Committee 1,998 00 

Survey i)300 00 

Books and stationery 937 85 

Legal expenses 27,505 00 

Advertising , 288 50 

Water 4,500 00 

Real estate iS^QQS 75 

Contribution 750 00 

Latrobe tunnel 2,942 00 

Hoisting 8,382 50 

Construction 9^,935 53 

Taxes 152,795 13 

Bullion reclamation 4,344 18 

Reduction 2,198,236 97 

Interest and exchange 1,530 50 

Bullion freight 56,383 79 

Dividends Nos. 10 to 21 inclusive. . . . 12,204,000 00 

C. and C. joint shaft 201,981 89 

Bullion discount 640,7 1 5 48 

Back dividends 4 50 

Supplies 157,519 76 

Salaries and wages 760,698 ']'] 

Expense 6.540 46 

$17,060,885 88 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 



lOI 



INVENTORY OF PROPERTY AT MINE, DECEMBER 3 I ST, I 875. 

Real estate ^30,000 00 

Buildings 75,ooo 00 

Machinery 225,000 00 

Supplies .• 5,525 00 

Timbers 1,519,000 feet . . . 42,268 60 

Wood 46 1 i cords . . 

Coal 9 tons ... 190 00 

Candles 300 boxes . . 1,275 00 

Powder i ,500 lbs 1,080 00 

Fuse 15,000 feet ... 98 00 

Caps 100 boxes . . 11 2 50 

Coal oil 200 galls. . . 128 00 

Lard oil 250 " . . 305 00 

Picks 20 dozen . . 360 00 

Shovels 10 " .. 12000 

Drills 10 " . . 140 00 

Steel 1,400 pounds. 224 00 

Iron, round and square 12,440 " . 860 00 

Norway iron 3.147 " • SH 7^ 

Hardware, miscellane- 
ous 6,542 92 

$389,543 72 



Gfotild ^ CWfy. 



This mine is one of the oldest locations on the lode, 
and has become widely known as one of the most pro- 



I02 NEVADA, 

ductive. The company was organized in i860. The 
nominal claim and basis of organization was 1,200 
feet, but the measured length of ground, between the 
northern and southern boundaries, is only 921 feet. 
The productive ground of the Gould & Curry has 
thus far been confined to the southern part of the 
claim. The body of ore cropped out at the surface, 
some 300 or 400 feet from the southern boundary, and, 
dipping southerly, passed beyond the boundary into 
the Savage claim. From within these limits, about 
400 feet in length, 500 feet in height, and an aggre- 
gate width of 80 or 100 feet, the Gould & Curry have 
extracted the whole of their large returns. 

Mining operations were at first carried on by means 
of tunnels driven in from the side of the hill, at right 
angles to the course of the lode, passing through the 
eastern country rock, and cutting the ore-bodies in 
depth. Three tunnels of this description were driven 
at different depths, the lowest being over 2,000 feet 
long, and cutting the lode at a depth of 425 feet. By 
these means, the greater part of the productive ground 
of the mine was worked out. In 1864, the company 
commenced the sinking of their deep shaft through 
the eastern country rock, partly for working the ore- 
ground known to exist below the level of the lowest 
tunnel, but chiefly to explore the mine at much greater 
depth. The work has progressed steadily, with only 
few interruptions, until the present time. 

The surface works at the shaft are amply provided 
with all the appurtenances of a well equipped mine. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. IO3 

There are three hoisting engines, viz : 14 by 30, 16 
by 42, and 20 by 30; two pumping engines, 20 by 48, 
and 18 by 42 ; one blower engine, 10 by 18 ; saw en- 
gine, 10 by 20; underground hoisting engine, two 
double, 7 by 19 each. Also a compressor engine, No. 
4, Burleigh, 15 by 18. There are four tubular boil- 
ers, each 54 inches in diameter and 16 feet long, and 
containing four flues. The consumption of wood is 
about fourteen cords per day. 

Work in this mine is progressing nicely. The 
double winze from the 1,500-foot level has reached the 
1,700, and they are now drifting south, to connect with 
the drift from the main incline on that level, and hope 
soon to be able to report good developments. 

The work of raising the two unfinished compart- 
ments of the main shaft, between the seventh and 
tenth stations, is making good headway, considering 
the rock and earth passed through. 

Number of assessments, twenty-three. Number of 
shares in mine, 108,000. Last assessment levied Oc- 
tober 26th, 1875. Total amount of assessments, 
$1,640,000. Total amount of dividends, $3,826,800. 



^kvage. 



This mine adjoins the Gould & Curry on the south. 
The actual length of the claim is stated at 771 feet, 



I04 NEVADA, 

although the company is organized on a basis of 800 
feet, with a subdivision of twenty shares to each foot, 
making a total of 16,000 shares. The earlier workings 
of the company were confined to the northern portion 
of their ground, and were prosecuted by means of a 
shaft, sunk on the croppings, about 200 feet south of 
their northern boundary. At a depth of 600 feet, to 
which this shaft was sunk, it had already reached and 
passed considerably below the west wall. Following 
the example of the Gould & Curry, the company 
located their new shaft about 800 feet east of the old 
one, on the croppings, and about midway between the 
north and south boundaries. 

There are three hoisting engines, 16 by 36, 16 by 
36, 66 by 36 ; one pumping engine, 26 by 72 (beam) ; 
one saw engine, 10 by 20 ; one lathe engine, 6 by 12, 

The company have broken ground for the founda- 
tions of new machinery, which is to be sufficiently pow- 
erful to sink their main incline to the depth of 4,000 
feet. It is already down about 2,200 feet, and is still 
being vigorously pushed downward. But the present 
machinery cannot be expected to do the work required 
more than a few months longer. The new hoisting 
engine will be supplied with two twenty-four-inch hori- 
zontal cylinders, of four-foot stroke, and will be of over 
400 horse-power. The foundations for this engine are 
being laid about eighty feet to the westward of the 
present hoisting works. A building fifty by sixty feet 
in size will be erected over the new hoisting engine 



THE LAND OF SILVER. IO5 

and the machinery connected therewith. The steel- 
wire rope to be used will be 4,000 feet in length, and 
will weigh about 24,000 pounds. It will be a round 
rope, and the upper end will be two inches in diameter, 
but 2,500 feet of its length will be tapered, and the 
lower end will be il inches in diameter. The reel on 
which this cable will wind and unwind will be conical, 
and the cable will wind about it spirally. When the 
greater part of the cable is down in the incline, and its 
whole weight is added to the weight of the incline car, 
the rope will be winding on the smaller end of the 
reel, when the machinery will have its greatest pur- 
chase, and as the cable is finally wound up, it will run 
upon the larger end of the reel. Thus the same steam 
will do the work at any point in the car's journey up 
and down the incline track. The cable, after leaving 
the reel at the hoisting engine, will pass over a pulley 
at the top of the gallows-frame above the shaft ; at the 
bottom of the perpendicular portion of the shaft it will 
pass under a large pulley stationed at that point, and 
will then be carried down the incline, running in 
friction pulleys placed at proper intervals in the center 
of the car track. 

Number of assessments levied, 21. Number of 
shares in mine, 112,000. Total amount assessments, 
$2,186,000. Total amount dividends, $4,460,000. 



I06 NEVADA, 



Sale it }ioi'ci'o^^. 



This mine is situated next south of the Savage. Its 
claim covers 400 feet along the length of the lode, and 
the present organization of the company is based on a 
subdivision of each foot into forty shares. Operations 
were begun in 1861 or 1862. A shaft was located near 
the croppings of the lode, and was sunk vertically until 
striking the west wall, at a depth of 535 feet, when 
its direction was changed, so as to follow the inclina- 
tion of the foot-wall of the vein, reaching in that man- 
ner a vertical depth of 780 feet. During the progress 
of this work, exploring drifts were made from the shaft 
at various depths, and, though the ground in the upper 
levels was carefully and persistently prospected, no im- 
portant bodies of ore were found until attaining a 
depth of about 500 feet. Here, late in 1865, a very 
valuable deposit was discovered, and the company then 
entered upon a very prosperous career. In 1866, a 
new shaft, located in the eastern country rock, and re- 
sembling, in general features, the shafts of the Gould 
& Curry and the Savage, was begun, and has since 
served in the development of the deeper portion of the 
mine. It is now between 2,100 and 2,200 feet deep. 
Sinking the main incline below the 2,100-foot level is 
making fine progress. On the 2,ioo-foot level they 



THE LAND OF SILVER. IO7 

are extending the west crosscut from the main incline, 
and sixteen feet have been added to its length during 
the past week — January 15th, 1875. On this level the 
north drift has been extended twenty-eight feet, and 
will be connected with the winze sunk from the level 
above. Drifting south has commenced in the ore-vein 
on this level, to develop the south part of the mine. 
The ore-breasts on the eleventh level continue to 
improve, and may turn out of some importance. The 
pumping engine has a cylinder twenty inches in diam- 
eter by forty-eight inches stroke. The hoisting engine 
has an eighteen-inch cylinder with thirty inches stroke. 
The winding reels are ten feet in diameter, and have a 
winding capacity of 2,300 feet of flat steel rope, four 
inches wide by three-eighths of an inch thick. The con- 
sumption of wood is about ten cords per day. 

Number of assessments, 48. Number of shares 
in mine, 16,000. Last assessment levied November 
9th, 1875. Number of dividends, 36. Last dividend, 
April loth, 1 87 1. Total amount assessments levied, 
j5 1, 770,000. Total amount dividends, $1,598,000. 



Yellow Jkdket 



The ground of the Yellow Jacket mine is 957 feet 
in length, measured on the course of the lode, but the 
organization of the company is based on a length of 



I08 NEVADA, 

i,20o feet, and each foot represents twenty shares of 
the stock. The ore -bearing ground of the Yellow 
Jacket is in two parts, one of w^hich is in the northern, 
the other in the southern portion of the claim. The 
intermediate ground, at least in the upper levels, is 
considered poor. The northern portion, known as the 
north mine, was worked in the earlier days of the com- 
pany's operations, and proved to be rich and profitable 
to a depth of 500 or 600 feet. The known resources 
of this part of the claim having been exhausted several 
years ago, the work w^as transferred to the south mine, 
adjoining the Kentuck. A deep shaft has been sunk, 
through which the extensive operations of the mine 
have been almost entirely carried on during several 
years. The shaft has reached a depth of 1,800 or 1,900 
feet, and sinking is still being vigorously prosecuted. 
The east drift from the foot of the winze on the 1,700- 
foot level, is in a distance of seventy feet, with the face 
in a mixture of quartz and porphyry. The north drift, 
on the level, is being rapidly advanced, and the north 
winze on the 1,500-foot level is making good progress. 

The mine is well provided with pumping, hoisting, 
and other required machinery: two hoisting engines 
twenty by thirty, one double sixteen by thirty, one 
pumping engine eighteen inches in diameter and thir- 
ty-six inches stroke ; one blower and saw engine twelve 
inches in diameter by thirty inches stroke. The con- 
sumption of wood is about twelve cords per day. 

Number of assessments, 21. Number of shares 



THE LAND OF SILVER. IO9 

in mine, 24,000. Last assessment levied, September 
20th, 1875. Last dividend, August loth, 1871. Total 
amount assessments levied, $2,358,000. Total div- 
idends, $2,184,000. 



di^owii ?oir\t. 



This has always been one of the most successful 
and profitable silver mines on the Comstock Lode. 
The mine is well worked, and thoroughly equipped 
with the necessary machinery for extended operations. 
Its hoisting and pumping works are among the best 
in the district. Three new engines of eighty horse- 
power, each supplied by four new boilers, each fifty- 
four inches in diameter, have been put in place in the 
hoisting works. Four reels, five sheave-wheels, one 
new spur-wheel for pumps, one new pump-bob, and 
connecting wheel for same, and two new donkey-pumps 
have been also added. 

Five years ago, the Crown Point mine was not 
yielding anything. There was no ore in sight of suf- 
ficiently high grade to pay cost of extraction and re- 
duction. Nor was there anywhere in the mine any 
indication of a coming ore-body. The future pros- 
pects of the company never looked so unpromising. 
In December, 1870, the largest body of pay ore ever 



no NEVADA, 

found on the Comstock Lode, up to that time, was dis- 
covered in this mine. 

The following from the Superintendent's report 
for 1873, Mr. J. P. Jones, will give a general idea of 
the form and character of the great Crown Point bo- 
nanza: 

" It may be briefl}^ described as an immense wedge- 
shaped body of ore, with its edge uppermost, having a 
strike of course northwest and southeast, and penetrat- 
ing the earth with an easterly dip of about thirty-six 
degrees. On the 900-foot level, the upper edge or 
apex has been developed for eighty feet in length, 
with an average width of nine feet, and an average 
value of about twenty-eight dollars per ton. On the 
1,000-foot level the ore body is 200 feet in length, with 
an average width of forty-five feet, and an average 
value of thirty-two dollars per ton. On the 1,100-foot 
level it is 255 feet in length, with an average width of 
fifty-eight feet, and an average value of about thirty- 
seven dollars per ton. On the 1,200- foot level it is 
310 feet in length, with an average width of seventy 
feet, and an average value of about forty-five dollars 
per ton. On the 1,300-foot level it is 360 feet in 
length, with an average width of ninety feet, and an 
average value of about seventy-five dollars per ton. 
It thus appears that the ore body has steadily in- 
creased in length, width, and richness as we have de- 
scended upon it, and there is every indication of its 
continuing to do so. Much significance has been 



THE LAND OF SILVER. I I I 

attached, and I think justly, to the fact that ever since 
this chimney of ore was struck the various seams and 
stratifications of whatever kind, whether clay, porphyry, 
barren quartz, or ore, have uniformly maintained about 
the same course and dip as the walls encasing them. 
When it is rem.embered that, in the ore bodies worked 
prior to this discovery, there was no such uniformity, 
but the chimneys were as likely to stand vertical as 
any other way, it is fair to presume that we have 
passed below the range of surface disturbance, and 
that the vein will penetrate the earth in its present 
shape to an indefinite depth. 

" From this immense chimney we have extracted 
and worked about one-seventh of the ore between the 
900 and 1,000-foot levels, about four-fifths of the ore 
between the 1,000 and 1,100-foot levels, about three- 
fifths of the ore between the 1,100 and 1,200-foot lev- 
els, and about one-fourth of the ore between the 1,200 
and 1,300-foot levels. 

" Above the 900-foot level, the ore remains untouched. 
In the aggregate, we have taken out and crushed from 
May ist, 1 87 1, to May ist, 1873, 217,431 10-2000 tons, 
which have given a gross yield of $9,944,783.57, and 
an average yield of ^45.73 per ton. We have in reserve, 
and available for immediate extraction, the remainder 
of the ore, as indicated by the foregoing figures, on the 
levels above the i,300,and have now everything in readi- 
ness to open the 1,400 and 1,500-foot levels." 

The following, taken from the superintendent's re- 



112 NEVADA, 



port, Mr. Samuel Jones, will show the amount of ore, 
fractional tons being omitted, extracted from the va- 
rious levels during the year 1874: 



TONS. 



From the 1,000-foot level 16,576 

" 1,100 " " 388 

" 1,200 " " 23,636 

" 1,300 " " 84,000 

" " 1,400 " " 15,000 

Total 1 39,600 

" The actual amount of ore reduced at the mills was 
140,132 1,710-2,000 tons. Average yield of the ore 
per ton, $50.96. 

" There yet remains on each of the above levels a 
very large amount of ore; and, as will be seen from the 
foregoing table, the 1,400-foot level is almost intact, 
while from the 900 and 1,500-foot levels not a pound 
of ore has yet been extracted. Since the date of the 
last report, 1873, the 900-foot level has been more thor- 
oughly prospected, and the ore has been found to be 
of much better quality than was expected, which, taken 
in connection with the width and strength of the vein 
at that point, makes it almost certain that the ore-body 
will at least extend up to the 800-foot level." 

During our recent visit [January, 1875] to this 
wonderful mine, we found all the ore-producing sections 
looking well. The face of the main south drift, on 
the 1,500-foot level, is still in rich ore. The main east 
drift on the i, 600-foot level, projected to cut and pros 



THE LAND OF SILVER. I 1 3 

pect the ore-body on that level, is making steady pro- 
gress. The main incline is down 130 feet below the 
1,600-foot level, and is making good progress. Daily 
yield of ore, 550 tons — sometimes as high as 600 tons 
per day. The future of this mine never looked brighter 
than it does at present. 

Number of assessments, twenty-three. Number of 
shares in mine, 100,000. Last assessment levied, Oc- 
tober 5th, 1875. Last dividend, January 12th, 1875. 
Total amount of assessments, $673,370. Total amount 
of dividends, $11,588,000. 



Seldl\ei'. 



The Belcher is the most prominent mine south of 
the Crown Point. Including " Segregated Belcher," it 
covers an extent of 1,040 feet of the lode, each foot 
representing 100 shares. In 1864, the Belcher had a 
productive body of ore, from which a large amount of 
bullion was obtained, and handsome dividends were 
paid. All the arrangements for working this mine are 
very complete. Everything about the mine is kept 
in perfect order, and is a model of neatness, which 
some of the neighbors of the Belcher would do well to- 
imitate. The shaft is divided into three compartments. 



114 NEVADA, 

— one for the pumps, and the other two for hoisting 
purposes. There are two powerful hoisting engines, 
twenty inches in diameter by thirty inches stroke each ; 
one pumping engine, twelve inches in diameter by 
thirty inches stroke ; two compressor engines, (one 
Rand, one Burleigh) the first twelve by thirty, the 
second fifteen by eighteen ; also, one blower engine, 
twelve inches in diameter by twenty-four inches stroke ; 
one underground hoisting engine, seven inches in 
diameter by ten inches stroke. Wood consumed, 
twenty cords per day. 

Soon after the rich strike made in the Crown Point, 
the 1,000-foot level was cut from the Yellow Jacket 
mine through to the Belcher ground, where the same 
body of rich ore was found. It is known to extend 
south to a distance of four hundred feet in this mine. 
On this level it is one hundred feet wide, and on the 
1,200-foot level the width is as yet unknown. The ore- 
body grows narrower towards the south. It has opened 
upward as far as the 900-foot level. The average yield 
of this ore per ton is about sixty-five dollars — a large 
per cent, is gold. The ore-breasts and stopes through- 
out all the old producing levels continue to yield hand- 
somely, and the development of the 1,500-foot level is 
being vigorously prosecuted by the winzes from the 
1,400, with excellent ore prospects. The drift east 
from the 1,500-foot station of the main incline, to open 
that level, is going ahead well. When we visited the 
mine last January, the main incline was down 103 feet 



THE LAND OF SILVER. II5 

below the 1,500-foot level, with the bottom in good 
working ground. The daily yield of the mine at that 
time was about 450 tons per day. 

Number of assessments levied, eight. Number of 
shares in mine, 104,000. Last assessment levied, April 
14th, 1871. Last dividend, January loth, 1876. Total 
amount of assessments, $660,400. Total amount of 
dividends, $15,085,200. 



,giei'i'k Xev^el^. 



The Sierra Nevada lies at the north end of the 
developed portion of the Comstock. The company 
is now engaged in sinking a new shaft. This shaft 
will be sunk down to the depth of 2,000 feet without 
intermission in the work. The machinery in opera- 
tion at the shaft is sufficiently powerful to sink to the 
depth of 2,500 or 3,000 feet. This shaft is so situated 
that a drift may conveniently be run west into Cedar 
Hill, and also east into the vein whose huge croppings 
loom up just beyond the Masonic Cemetery. 

Number of assessments, forty-two. Number of feet 
in mine, 3,300. Number of shares, 100,000. Last 
assessment levied, October ist, 1875. 



1 6 NEVADA. 



Cliollhf-Potoj^i 



This mine adjoins the Hale & Norcross on the 
south. The length of the claim belonging to this 
company is stated at 1,400 fefet. The number of 
shares in the company is 28,000. The present or- 
ganization is a consolidation of two or more claims, 
the chief of which were originally known as the Chol- 
lar and the Potosi. The Chollar was originally located 
as a square claim on the surface, measuring 1,400 feet 
along the length of the lode, by about 400 feet in 
width. The Potosi located a similar claim, of equal 
length, parallel to and lying east of the Chollar. The 
shaft is of the same general character as those already 
mentioned. Ihe hoisting and pumping works are 
ample for extended operations. There are two hoist- 
ing engines, one sixteen inches in diameter by thirty 
inches stroke; the other twenty inches in diameter by 
thirty inches stroke ; one pumping engine, eighteen 
inches in diameter by thirty-six inches stroke ; one 
compressor engine, (Waring's) twelve inches in diam- 
eter by thirty inches stroke ; also, two Rand drilling 
machines. Consumption of wood, about six cords per 
day. During the year ending May 31st, 1874, accord- 



THE LANE) OF SILVER. II7 

ing to the Superintendent's report — Isaac L. .Requa, 
Esq. — there was — 

Ore extracted 32,915 tons. 

Ore reduced at mills 35'34i tons. 

" During the past eight months our efforts in seek- 
ing ore have been mainly devoted to the southern part 
of our mine, from the second to the fifth stations, em- 
bracing a depth of 700 feet, and 700 feet in length, of 
ground entirely unprospected. At the fifth, or lowest 
level, several small bodies of excellent ore have been 
discovered. 

" Indications seem to justify the conclusion that 
these small deposits are merely the off-shoot of a large 
and valuable 'bonanza' in the immediate neighbor- 
hood of present workings. For the purpose of devel- 
oping the anticipated extensive ore deposits, operations 
are ceaselessly carried on at this point. 

" The producing portions are affording ninety tons 
of ore daily ; and, so far as can be determined, this 
quantity will not be lessened for next year, and, from 
present prospects, may be largely increased during 
twelve months to come." 

Total amount assessments, $1,022,000. Total 
amount dividends, $3,080,000. 



Il8 NEVADA, 



OYei^ii|ki\. 



The Overman adjoins the Segregated Belcher on 
the south, and owns 1,200 feet. A great quantity of 
low-grade ore is found throughout the whole extent of 
the mine. In August, 1871, a new shaft was started, 
1,500 feet east of the old works, and it has reached a 
depth of between 1,400 and 1,500 feet. The north 
drift of the 900-foot level of the new mine is still being 
advanced, with its face in good ore. It will be pushed 
forward to the south line of the Segregated Belcher 
before any crosscutting is done. 

Total number of assessments, thirty-three. Total 
amount assessments levied, $1,876,680. No dividends. 



[n|5:)ei'ih.l-]^Ti|?pii'e. 



The shaft of this company has reached a depth of 
over 2,000 feet. 

Assessments, $1,670,000. Dividends, $1,067,500. 



IHE LAND OF SILVER. II9 



Sulli 



WT\. 



The old Bullion incline is over 1,400 feet in depth. 
The drifts from the 800-foot level of the old shaft, and 
also that from the 1,700-foot level of the Imperial, are 
being steadily advanced. In each, stringers and 
bunches of quartz ore are occasionally met with, but 
nothing of importance has yet been found. 



d^leelor\ik 



The main shaft has been sunk to a depth of twenty 
feet below the 1,076-foot level, to form a sump. At 
this poiAt a broad drift is being run southeast into the 
hard, black dike, for the purpose of increasing the 
capacity of the sump. At the 900-foot level a drift 
has been run east in the vein, and at a point thirty 
feet east of the shaft a winze has been started, to con- 
nect with the 1,000-foot level. This work is being 
done to promote a free circulation of air. The south 
drift on the same level is now in very promising vein 
matter — a mixture of about equal parts of quartz, clay, 
and porphyry. 



I20 NEVADA. 



Otliei' Mi^e^- 



Our space will not allow us to give a full description 
of all the mines in the Virginia and Gold Hill mining 
districts, called in the San Francisco Stock Board — 
only a list of them : 

Andes, Arizona and Utah, Alpha, American Flat, 
Baltimore Consolidated, Bacon, Best & Belcher, Con- 
fidence, Gold Hill Quartz, Challenge, Crown Point 
Ravine, Dardanelles, Eclipse, Empire Mill, Exchequer, 
Globe, Julia, Justice, Kentuck, Knickerbocker, Kos- 
suth, Lady Washington, Leo, Mexican, New York 
Consolidated, Rock Island, Silver Hill, Succor, Trench, 
Union Consolidated, Utah, Whitman, Woodville. > 



THE 



SUTRO TUNNEL. 



All the mines enumerated in the preceding chapter 
own claims of various lengths along the Comstock 
Lode. Their system of working is the same in every 
case, viz., to descend upon the lode from the surface, 
by means of shafts, through which their workmen de- 
scend into the mines, and all the ore, debris, and water 
are extracted by machinery — the two former by hoisting 
apparatus, the latter by pumping. 

This system of working is very expensive, rendering- 
it impossible to work low-grade ores. Moreover, the 
expense increases with every additional foot in depth 
that is attained ; and the deeper the workings, the 
worse the ventilation. 

In i860, shortly after work on- the great lode was 
begun, these and other results of this system of work- 
ing from the surface were all foreseen and clearly stated 
by Adolph Sutro, Esq., the projector of the tunnel 
which bears his name. To secure perfect ventilation, 
an inexpensive system of mining, and thorough natural 



122 NEVADA, 

drainage, Mr. Sutro proposed to cut an adit, or tunnel, 
starting from appoint on the Carson River about 20,- 
200 feet from the lode, which would be cut some 2,000 
feet below the surface, thus drawing off its water and 
working it from beneath, obviating the expense of 
hoisting and pumping, and, by opening air-vents to the 
surface, securing perfect ventilation. 

The completion of a work of such magnitude was 
at first deemed impracticable, but, in 1864, the State 
Legislature granted Mr. Sutro and his associates the 
right of way, as far as the State Legislature could. By 
this grant, the question of remuneration for constructing 
the tunnel was left open. In 1865, the advantages 
likely to accrue to the companies mining on the Com- 
stock Lode, through the construction of the proposed 
tunnel, induced them to enter into contracts with Mr. 
Sutro, in which they agreed to pay the tunnel company 
a royalty of two dollars (^2.00) a ton for every ton of ore 
taken from their mines after the completion of the tun- 
nel, whether they used the tunnel or not. In 1866, Con- 
gress passed an act authorizing the construction of the 
tunnel ; and a very accurate survey of the work was 
made for the tunnel company by R. G. Carlyle, Esq., 
an engineer of acknowledged ability and standing. 
Notwithstanding these indications of its early inaugu- 
ration, and the agreements above alluded to, the scheme 
was soon bitterly opposed by certain interested parties, 
who sought to discourage the sagacious projector, so 
that they might get the enterprise into their own hands. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 23 

In this, however, they were baffled ; for Mr. Sutro, with 
indomitable pluck, kept up the fight, writing letters 
and books, and addressing meetings, Legislatures, and 
Congressional committees, whenever he could get an 
opportunity. Owing to his vigorous agitation, and 
under an Act of Congress dated April 4th, 1871, the 
President of the United States appointed a commis- 
sion of three engineers, two military and one civil, to ex- 
amine and report upon the Sutro Tunnel project, with 
special reference to '^ the importance, feasibility, cost, and 
time required to construct the same.'' Upon all these 
points the commission reported favorably, estimating 
the cost at ^4,418,329.50, and the time at three and a 
half years. ^ 

Undeterred by this favorable aspect of affairs, the 
opposition was still kept up — now with renewed vigor, 
as there seemed a prospect of the enterprise being 
aided by Congress — and the contest was carried to the 
halls of Congress itself. Here Mr. Sutro gained at least 
a nominal victory, for the Congressional committee 
.before whom the case was argued reported in favor of 
th.e tunnel, and advised the government to grant its 
projector a loan of five millions of dollars, to aid in its 
construction. Owing to the lateness of the session, 
this bill was never passed, and the Sutro Tunnel Com- 
pany, to their credit be it said, have found means to 
carry on their grand enterprise to completion without 
government assistance. 

Ground was broken, and the tunnel actually com- 



124 NEVADA, 

menced on October, i8th, 1864. At this writing it is in 
over 12,000 feet — considerably more than half-way. It 
begins at a point on the Carson River, north of Dayton, 
Lyon County, and will reach the Comstock Lode in 
about 20,200 feet, cutting it at a perpendicular depth 
of 1,922 feet — equal to a depth along the dip of the 
lode of 2,900 feet below the surface. To expedite the 
completion of the tunnel, four shafts were to be sunk 
at intervals along its route, and from the bottoms of 
these shafts the tunneling was to be carried on in 
both directions. Up till July ist, 1874, progress was 
retarded by bad drills in the tunnel, and by hard 
rock and water in the shafts. Yet, even then, 6,200 
feet of the tunnel had been cut, and shafts one and 
two — the former having a depth of 523 feet, the latter 
1,041— had been put down. At the date specified a 
change was made in the drills, the old ones being dis- 
carded, and the " Burleigh " drill employed. The 
change was most satisfactory in its results, and the 
work is now carried forward as rapidly as possible. 

The ofeneral ^rade of the tunnel is three inches in a 
hundred feet. It is to be fourteen feet in width, and 
ten feet high in the clear, and will have a double nar- 
row-gauge (36) railroad through its entire length. 

The Act of Congress which authorized its construc- 
tion gave Mr. Sutro the right of way for the tunnel, 
including 2,000 feet of ground on each side of it ; 
an absolute right to all l^edges, etc., struck in it ; the 
right to purchase such ledges, etc., at five dollars an 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 25 

acre beyond the 2,000-foot limit, and also 1,280 acres 
of ground at the mouth of the tunnel, for the erection 
of mills, etc. Part of this last has been laid out as a 
town, which bears the appropriate name of " Sutro." 

The capital stock of the company consists of two 
million shares, at ten dollars each, which shares are 
unassessable. The company is out of debt, and has 
sufficient funds to complete its great undertaking. 

The benefits that will accrue from the»-completion 
of the tunnel are too numerous to mention ; a few 
only can be stated here. It will reduce the cost of 
mining and transportation so as to make available 
millions of tons of low-grade ores, which cannot now 
be worked with profit, and which, without the tunnel, 
could never be worked at all. " As a geological sur- 
vey," to quote from the Report of the Congressional 
Committee before whom the case was argued, "pen- 
etrating into this argentiferous mountain, [the Virginia 
range] it will be of the highest value to science. It 
will serve as a pattern work for all the other mining 
districts. Its success will give confidence in mining 
operations. It will make capital flow in that direc- 
tion. It will populate our vast mining regions. It 
will largely increase the total yield of gold and silver ; 
and lastly, it is a work of national importance, and will 
have a most important bearing on the payment of the 
national debt." 



Central and Eastern Nevada. 



We have now touched upon everything connected 
with the great Comstock Lode— the chief source of 
Nevada's mineral wealth. But great and apparently 
inexhaustible though it is, it is only a part of her 
wealth, after all. In 1859, the discovery of the Com- 
stock caused great numbers of all classes to rush to 
Nevada, in the hope of securing a share in the great 
prize. During the latter part of that eventful year, 
and the whole of "60, the multitude of fortune-hunters 
assembled in the Comstock region was largely in- 
creased by a steady influx of miners and prospectors. 
Arrived on the ground, these men found every foot of 
it already taken up. What were they to do } Re- 
turn .? No ; they had too much energy to be daunted 
with trifles — they would prospect ! This lode was not 
the only one ; doubtless there were others, equally 
rich, and not difficult to find. So they reasoned ; and, 
armed with the determination to find the lodes they 
believed to exist, they scattered far and wide over the 
whole of Nevada, discovering and naming nearly all 
the important mining districts in which the State 
abounds. Prominent among their discoveries were 



128 NEVADA, 

the " Humboldt " and " Reese River " districts ; the 
former discovered in 1861, the latter a year later. 
Both attracted much attention. From these points as 
centers, small prospecting parties radiated in almost 
every direction, and each succeeding year witnessed 
the discovery of one or more new mining districts. 
Since that time, nearly every mountain range in the 
State has been subjected to more or less examination 
at the hands of the prospector; regions until lately 
almost entirely unknown have become familiar, and 
others, formerly so remote from the business centers of 
the Pacific Coast as to be practically inaccessible, have 
now been brought into comparatively easy communi- 
cation through the agency of the Central Pacific Rail- 
road. 

In order to complete our survey of Nevada's min- 
eral wealth, we now proceed to describe, as succinctly 
as may be, the more prominent of these subordinate 
mining districts. And first of these, in point of time 
at least, is the Humboldt District. 



iJuHiboldt ©I^tridt. 



This district, and the county of which it forms a 
part, lie in the northwest corner of the State, and de- 
rive their name from the river which flows through 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 29 

them. The mining and other interests, both of dis- 
trict and county, were never in a more prosperous con- 
dition than they are while we write, a 

Prominent among the mines of this district are the 
White & Shiloh and Eagle mines. 

WHITE & SHILOH MINE. 

This valuable mine was located in June, 1869, at a 
place since named after the principal mineral in the 
mine, Galena. It is thirteen miles from Battle Mount- 
ain, a station on the C. P. R. R. The mine, which 
has a course of 2,300 feet, north and south, and a 
westerly dip of eighty-seven degrees, has been worked 
without intermission for the last four years. Its shaft 
is down 250 feet. The galena extracted from it assays 
$275 of silver, carrying also from twenty-two to twen- 
ty-five per cent, of lead, with a trace of gold. One 
thousand four hundred tons of the ore from this mine 
have been shipped to England, and about 50,000 tons 
of second-grade ore are reserved for reduction at the 
mine, where its owners are erecting a concentrating 
mill, whose capacity will be fifty tons per day. 

Next to the \yhite & Shiloh mine, which is the larg- 
est in the district, comes 

THE EAGLE MINE. 

This mine is located about eight miles south of 
Unionville, in a subdivision of the Humboldt, known as. 
9 



1 30 NEVADA, 

Indian District. Situated low down on the foot-hills 
not more than three hundred feet above the valley 
rich ore was dis^vered a few feet from the surface. 
The ledge increased in size as depth was attained, and 
at eighty feet, the present depth of the shaft, is found 
to be twelve feet wide. A fifteen-stamp mill is being 
erected, and about 2,000 tons of ore are awaiting its 
completion. Some of this ore contains a small percent- 
age of galena, and may need to be roasted before it can 
be worked up to its assay value. 

Other valuable mines in Humboldt County are the 
Arizona, Millionaire, Kennebec, Rising Sun, Sheba, De 
Soto, Mammoth, and so on, forming a list too large for 
our space. 



i^ee^e ^ivei^ ©i^ti'idt. 



This mining district, the oldest in Eastern Nevada, 
is located about the center of the State, and com- 
prises an area of seventy-five miles east and west, by 

twenty miles north and south. Silver was first dis- 

♦ 
covered here in May, 1862, in one of the caiions on 

the eastern slope of the mountains, about eighty miles 

south of the Humboldt, and near the present site of 

the town of Austin. The district was organized soon 

after the discovery in 1862. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. I3I 

The principal mines of this district are found in 
Lander Hill — a formation of 2:neiss or sfneissoid o-ran- 
itc, which derives its name from the county within 
whose bouadaries it stands. 

The ledges are well defined, but so narrow that 
they have been facetiously termed " razor-blade ledges." 
The ores which they contain, however, are of a very 
high grade, and so, in a great measure, compensate 
for the narrowness of the ledges. Between the surface 
and the water-line the ores are chiefly chloride, the 
bromide of silver being occasionally found, while be- 
low the water-line sulphuret ores only obtain. They 
are all base, carrying iron, antimony, copper, zinc, and 
lead. 

The Manhattan Silver Mining Company owns most 
of the mines on Lander Hill, as they do also the only 
mill in the district. Chief among them are the Or- 
egon, North Star, South America, Ogden, Dollerhide, 
Mohawk, Pacific, Chase, Freehold, Patriot, and Lone 
Star — all of which are being worked, and producing 
ore. 

THE OREGON MINE. 

Of all thegmines in the district, the Oregon has 
attained the greatest depth — 700 feet. The ledge in 
this mine varies in thickness from eight inches to 
three feet, and contains high-grade ore, consisting 
principally of antimonial and ruby silver. Producing 
a large amount of -very rich ore, this mine may be re- 
garded as the representative mine of Lander Hill. 



132 NEVADA, 



THE SOUTH AMERICA. 



Next to the Oregon in importance is the South 
America. It has the widest vein on the hill, averag- 
ing about thirty inches. Recent explorations in this 
mine have exposed large quantities of very high-grade 
ore, as much as forty tons a day being available, were 
the milling facilities adequate to its reduction. During 
the last four months of 1874 there were daily ex- 
tracted about fourteen tons of ore, which averaged 
about ^175 per ton. 

THE NEW PACIFIC COMPANY, LIMITED. 

This is an English company. It owns a number of 
valuable ledges on Lander Hill, some of which have 
been worked down as low as 550 feet. The mines 
belonging to this company, of which Bael, Baters, 
and North Star may be mentioned as the principal, 
contain large quantities of low-grade ore, averaging 
about $100 per ton. Should the proposed concen- 
trator prove a success, these mines will be worked more 
vigorously, and yield a large amount of bullion. In 
view of the recent developments on Lender Hill, and 
the benefits which the district is expected to derive 
from the concentrator referred to, the people are san- 
guine of a bright future. 

Indeed, throughout this entire district, there are 
very many ledges assaying from 'sixty to a hundred 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 33 

dollars per ton in silver, which cannot at present be 
profitably worked ; but should the cost of working be 
cheapened to any considerable extent, the amount of 
bullion yielded by this district would place Lander 
County among the chief base-bullion producing coun- 
ties in the State. 



S^ui'ekk ©i^ti^idt. 



This rich and productive mining district formerly 
belonged to Lander County, but, owing to its import- 
ance, has recently been erected into a separate county, 
bearing its own name. 

In 1864, discoveries were made here by Mr. Fair- 
child and others, from Austin. They sold their claims 
to a New York company, who put men on their claims 
and took out some ore, which they sent to Austin to 
be worked by mill process. A considerable amount of 
work was done on some of their locations, but as they 
did not find any very extensive bodies of ore, and as 
the expense of shipping what they did find was then 
so great, they soon became discouraged, and aban- 
doned the district. In 1866, new parties came in, and 
in 1867 the mines in McCoy Hill were discovered. 

In 1869, the Buckeye, Champion, and other mines 
on Ruby Hill, were discovered. These discoveries in- 



1 34 NEVADA, 

fused new life into the district. The mining popula- 
tion of the State began to regard it with confidence. 
Capitalists were attracted, smelting furnaces were 
erected, and speculators poured in to secure a share of 
the fast growing wealth. The prosperity thus inau- 
gurated has continued, and as the mines continue to 
develop new and large bodies of ore, increased confi- 
dence in their permanency is manifested. From June 
30th, 1873, to the same day of 1874, there were ex- 
tracted from the mines of this district 70,480 tons of 
ore, which yielded the sum of $2,707,159.50. 

THE RICHMOND CONSOLIDATED MINE. 

This valuable mine, one of the richest lead mines 
ever discovered, is owned by an English company. 

Besides three smelting furnaces, having a capacity 
of about 150 tons per day, the company has recently 
erected a very complete refinery, for the purpose of sep- 
arating the precious metals from the lead. The method 
adopted is a recent French invention known as the " Im- 
proved Pattison Process." All the machinery, as well as 
the workmen, have been imported direct from France. 
The success of the method is so marked as to warrant 
the assertion that this process is destined to supersede 
all other methods, not only on account of the economy 
of the process, but because of the superior quality of 
lead it produces. By this process the most impure 
lead can be fitted for the manufacture of white lead. 
The mine has been constantly worked for the last three 




Pilz Furnace. 



IPage 134.] 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 35 

years, and the quantity of ore in sight is sufficient to 
keep the furnaces running for years. There is no wa- 
ter in the mine, and the moisture in the ore is not 
greater than it was at the surface, the average being 
about twelve per cent. Very Httle powder is used in 
the mine, as the ore, being friable, is easily broken 
down. It is also admirably adapted for smelting, and 
can be taken direct from the mine to the furnaces with- 
out fluxing or previous preparation of any kind. 

From March, 1873, till January ist, 1875, the fur- 
naces of this mine smelted 58,000 tons of ore, and con- 
sumed in the process about 4,500 bushels of charcoal 
per day. The charcoal costs about thirty cents a 
bushel, and so the expenditure for this item alone 
amounts to more than $40,000 a month ! On an av- 
erage, it has taken five and a half tons of ore to make 
one ton of base bullion, worth in San Francisco about 
$300. 

To give our readers a clearer idea of the value of 
the Richmond ore, we subjoin the report of an analysis 
of the same, in 1873, by F. Claudet, Esq., London, as- 
sayer to the Bank of England : 

Oxide of lead 26.57 24.65 lead 

Oxide of copper 52 

Peroxide of iron 40-37 • 

Oxide of zinc 2.82 .... 3.97 arsenic 

Antimony traces 

Sulphuric acid 2.60 .... 1.04 sulphur 

Chlorine traces 



136 NEVADA, 

Silica 7.08 

Alumina 77 

Lime 1.18 

Magnesia. 50 

Water and carbonic acid. 12.60 



95.01 



The prospects of this mine were never so good as 
they are while we write. 

EUREKA CONSOLIDATED. 

Adjoining the Richmond on the southeast, the 
Eureka Consolidated is almost its equal, both in extent 
of deposit and richness of ore. Recent developments in 
this mine have disclosed a mass of ore of exceptionally 
large size ; its width from foot to hanging wall meas- 
ures 180 feet; length, so far as developed, with rich 
ore in both ends, 120 feet; its depth, so far as reached 
by winzes, 150 feet, with bottom in good ore. The 
" bonanza " thus uncovered must be about 300,000 
tons. It assays ^150 per ton, and is, therefore, worth 
about ^4,500,000. 

This mine has paid $725,000 in dividends — its last 
being paid March 5th, 1875. Its stock is divided into 
50,000 shares. 

RUBY CONSOLIDATED. 

The Ruby Consolidated mine is located about a 
mile and a half to the southwest of the Eureka. Pro- 




.S 

'^ 

o 

CD 



cu 
o 



OJ) 



CO 



1 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 37 

ducing the same kind of ore, it is like the others in 
many respects, and has two smelting furnaces at work. 
Besides the Richmond, Eureka, Ruby, K. K. Con- 
solidated Company, and Hoosac, there are several 
other promising mines in this district ; but as we in- 
tend to notice the smelting interest at some length, 
we must economize our space. 



^rqeltiq^ ^lu'ilkde^. 



In the year 1866, an attempt was made to work the 
ores of this district, by Mr. Wilson, who erected a 
small furnace ; but not succeeding as well as he ex- 
pected, he soon abandoned it. Early in 1867, Mr. A. 
Monroe came to the place, and made some locations 
on what is now called " McCoy Hill." Finding here 
some smelting ores, he went to Austin, and succeeded 
in inducing Mr. Stetefeldt, an experienced metallur- 
gist, to return with him. A furnace was built, and 
about 2,800 pounds of bullion were turned out, but 
the result was not satisfactory. Finally, in March, 
1869, Major McCoy, who had meantime become in- 
terested in the district, took charge of the furnace. 
He went to Hamilton, and employed Messrs. Jones 
and Williams, two Welsh smelters, to come to Eureka 



138 - NEVADA, 

and smelt for him. They remodeled the furnace, and 
in a very short time made the first successful attempt 
to work the ores of this district. 

The following is a list of the furnaces now in run- 
ning order : 

NUMBER OP DAILY CAPACITY 
NAME. FURNACES. IN TONS. 

Eureka Consolidated 3 150 

Richmond 3 150 

Ruby Consolidated 2 100 

Jackson 2 40 

Taylor , . . . . i 65 

Robinson i 15 

Phoenix i 65 

The loss in smelting the ore has been very consider- 
able. This is due mainly to the large amount of arsenic 
which it contains. This metal, being very volatile, car- 
ries off with it much of the silver and gold, and it has 
been found necessary, of late, to construct long flues 
to reduce the loss. The working of the flues in con- 
nection with the furnaces has been, so far, successful ; 
the deposit in the Richmond flue alone amounting to 
upwards of ten tons daily, with three furnaces running 
— the assay value of the deposit being considerably 
higher in gold, silver, and lead, than that of the ore 

smelted. 

» 

The superintendent of the Eureka Consolidated 
mine, in his annual report for 1874, gives the follow- 
ing figures : 




Smelting Furnace. 



[Page 138. J 



THE LAND OF SILVER. I 39 



COST OF EXTRACTING ORES. 

Expense of extracting and hauling to fur- 
naces 22,831 tons of ore $318,603 61 

Supplies on hand, October ist, 1873 . . . 6,952 09 



^325>565 70 
Less supplies now on hand, per inven- 
tory 12,779 89 



$312,785 81 
Or $13.70 per ton, delivered at the furnaces. 



COST OF SMELTING ORES. 



Expense of smelting 22,191 tons of ore. $377,679 18 
Supplies on hand October ist, 1873. . . 17,552 62 



$395,231 80 
Less supplies now on hand, as per inven- 
tory 44.334 44 



^350.897 36 
Or $15.80 per ton. 

Twenty-two thousand one hundred and ninety-seven 
tons of ore produced three thousand one hundred and 
fifty-nine tons of base bullion. In proportion to the 
amount of bullion produced, there are more laboring 
men employed in the mines, and in reducing the ore 
in this district, than in any other in the State. The 
miner, wood-chopper, charcoal-burner, teamster, and 



140 NEVADA, 

smelter find here constant employment, and are well 
paid for their labor. 

If we may judge from present appearances, and from 
what has already been accomplished in this celebrated 
district, we cannot be far wrong in saying that it is ca- 
pable of producing 30,000 tons of lead, per annum, for 
many years to come. This amount is about one-half 
of all the lead consumed in the United States. The 
States west of the Rocky Mountains will soon be able 
to supply the United States and the Dominion of 
Canada with all the lead they will require. The rich- 
ness of the ore in these districts gives it a decided ad- 
vantage over all the lead deposits hitherto discovered 
east of the Rocky Mountains. Without doubt, the 
metallurgical interest of lead ores is fast becoming 
one of the leading industries of the Pacific States. 



Wliite Pii]e ©i^ti'idt. 



This once famous minino^ district lies near the east- 
ern boundary of the State, in the southwest corner of 
White Pine County. Treasure Hill, the center of the 
principal mining operations, is situated, according to 
Lieut. Wheeler, in lat. 39° 14' and long. 115^ 27' 
west of Greenwich. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. I4I 

The production of bullion in this district has fallen 
off greatly of late years, and many of its residents 
have moved to other sections of the State, where 
business is more encouraging. In 1873, the aggre- 
gate yield of this district amounted to ;^494, 596.85, and 
in 1S74 this amount was increased to $502,560.21. 
Recently, a more hopeful feeling obtains with regard 
to the future of the mines on Treasure Hill, and many 
are sanguine that the present efficient and economic 
management of the mines will introduce a new era of 
prosperity. It is expected that the success of the 
Eberhardt Company will induce others to resume 
work on their long neglected properties. Expensive 
transportation has been the great hindrance hitherto. 
Whenever this obstacle is removed, the argentiferous 
lead and copper deposits of the district are so exten- 
sive as to ensure remunerative investment for capital. 
The completion of the railroad now being construct- 
ed between Pioche and "Eureka is anticipated with a 
good deal of interest, as it is hoped that it will very 
soon be continued to White Pine. 



fio6]\Q ^i^i^i ©i^tridt. 



Pioche District is situated in Lincoln County, in 
the extreme southeastern portion of the State, For- 



142 NEVADA, 

merly very prosperous, this district has fallen off con- 
siderably during the past year. In 1872, the bullion 
produced amounted to $5,500,000, while in 1874 it 
was but $1,645,252. This decrease is owing to the 
exhaustion of the principal ore-bodies in the Ray- 
mond & Ely and Meadow Valley mines, above the 
water levels. 

. RAYMOND & ELY. 

In the report of this mine for the year 1874, its 
president makes the following statement as to its con- 
dition and prospects : " The result of the operations of 
the company for the year ending December 31st, 1874, 
shows that the number of tons of ore extracted from 
the mines was much less than in any former year since 
the mines have been worked ; consequently there has 
been a great decrease in the amount of bullion pro- 
duced. 

" Quite an important percentage of the bullion 
came from tailings, leaving but a small quantity of 
them on hand to be worked. The disbursements 
during the past year have greatly exceeded the re- 
ceipts from the mines, necessitating assessments to 
meet the current expenses. To further explore the 
ground of the company, large expenditures must be 
incurred, to meet which assessments must follow, until 
new and profitable deposits of minerals are discovered. 

"All the original ground of the company, out of 
which large quantities of very rich ore were taken, has 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 43 

been generally explored to a depth of 1,200 feet, until 
a large body of water has been struck. 

" It is all-important for the development of the lode 
that greater depth must be attained. To accomplish 
this end, heavy and substantial pumping machinery 
has been secured. All the machinery is at the mine, 
and will be put in place without delay. There is no 
doubt but what the pumps will be in operation within 
a few weeks' time." 

Number of shares in the Raymond & Ely mine, 
30,000. Last assessment levied, November 5th, 1875. 
Total amount of assessments levied, $510,000. Last 
dividend, September loth, 1873. Total amount divi- 
dends, $3,075,000. 

MEADOW VALLEY. 

This company owns 1,000 feet on the north branch 
and on the chief vein of the district, which varies 
from two to five feet. Its system of working is through 
inclines following the vein. The results of last year's 
operations in this mine are set forth in the super- 
intendents report as follows : " At the commence- 
ment of the year just closed, [1874] the west shaft had 
attained a depth of 931 feet, and from the ist of Octo- 
ber (the time sinking was again resumed) up to the 8th 
day of May, 383 feet had been added to its depth, 
making its total depth 1,314 feet on the incline, at 
which depth the water level was reached ; and with 
our present appliances on hand the water could not be 



144 NEVADA, 

raised, and sinking was in consequence discontinued." 
After various details as to the workings in the dif- 
ferent parts of the mine, the superintendent concludes 
his report thus : " In conclusion, I will say that, al- 
though the year just closed has not been productive 
of satisfactory results, there is, in the present situation, 
much to inspire hope for the future, and I confidently 
believe that, ere the close of another year, the com- 
pany will be in a highly prosperous condition." 

The capital stock of this mine consists of 60,000 
shares. Its last assessment was levied December 
28th, 1875, and its last dividend was paid on the i6th 
of June, 1873. The total assessments amount to $1,- 
290,000, and the aggregate dividends to $1,200,000. 



Selcqoiit MiW^ Di^tridt. 



Grouped around the Belmont mine, in Nye County, 
at various degrees of proximity, there are a number of 
mines which, collectively, make up the, Belmont Mining 
District. Under different names, and of various extent, 
several mining districts have been organized in Nye 
County from time to time. Most, indeed all, of these 
districts possessed valuable mines ; but, owing to bad 
roads and expensive transportation, little was done in 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 45 

the way of development. Of late, greater activity has 
prevailed ; new districts have been organized, and work 
has been resumed on mines left idle for years. From 
this increased activity in mining every other branch of 
business has received a forward impulse ; additional 
quartz mills and smelting furnaces have been erected, 
and the future prospects are hopeful and encouraging. 

BELMONT MINE. 

Last fall, a remarkable bonanza, or deposit of rich 
ore, was discovered in this mine. At the commence- 
ment of the winze, the vein is about four and a half 
feet thick ; at the depth of sixty feet it measures five 
feet, and at the bottom of the winze it is fully eight 
feet in thickness. Assays made on ore taken from the 
vein at different depths showed it to be very rich ; 
its measurements showed it to be extensive. As far as 
seen, the ore is of black sulphurets, and carries metal 
very generally throughout. The ledge ie beautifully 
uniform in size, increasing steadily as it descends. At 
the bottom of the workings, 120 feet, we found it fully 
eight feet thick. The whole mass of ore is expected 
to mill ^250 per ton. 

" Considering the depth and width known to exist 
of this rich deposit in the Belmont mine, the company 
are assured of a supply of ore for their mill for many 
months to come. The mine is now in a condition to 
be worked profitably and systematically." 



146 NEVADA, 

EL DORADO SOUTH. 

The incline through which this mine is worked has 
reached a depth of 560 feet. On the 490-foot level 
the vein has been opened out 500 feet south and 180 
feet north. Four hundred and ninety feet south from 
the incline, the vein has been crosscut, and found 
seventy-five feet in width. It is white quartz, with 
small streaks of ore running through it, which assay 
well. This is the largest vein in this section of the 
State, and has every indication of extending downward 
to an indefinite depth. The company owns a fine 
twenty-stamp mill, which has been completed and put 
in running order during the past two years. It is situ- 
ated close by the mine, so that there is but little ex- 
pense in shipping the ore. The greatest difficulty to 
contend with in working the mine is the crumbling of 
the hanging wall. The stopes all have to be timbered 
up to their faces as carefully and continuously as if the 
hanging wall was composed of quicksand. The ore is 
found in chutes, or chimneys, of from seventy-five to 
eighty feet in width. 

MONITOR-BELMONT. 

The new shaft on this mine has been sunk to a 
depth of 250 feet, and very complete hoisting works 
have been erected. The rich body of ore found in 
this mine has been exhausted, so that at present the 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 47 

Condition of the mine is not very flattering. Work 
progresses slowly, and it is hoped that soon a more 
encouraging report may be given. 

Number of shares in mine, 50,000. Last assess- 
ment levied, March i6th, 1875. Last dividend, De- 
cember 5th, 1873. Total amount assessments levied, 
$100,000. Total amount dividends, $75,000. 

Of the other valuable mines in this district our 
space will not allow us to give a description. 



Cioi'r\tido|)ik. ©i^trict. 



Cornucopia District is a new district which has re- 
cently come into notice. It is situated in Elko County, 
on the western slope of tke Tuscarora Mountains, be- 
tween the south fork of the Owyhee River and Deep 
Creek, or Middle Fork, seventy-five miles northwest 
from Elko, ninety miles a little east of north from 
Battle Mountain, and about 120 miles northeast from 
Winnemucca. The ledges are reported to occur on 
the contact between gray porphyry and quartzite, and 
to carry exceptionally rich ores. The fact that many 
of these ores assay over a thousand dollars to the ton 
in silver, and some gold, has created considerable ex- 
citement. 



148 NEVADA. 

THE LEOPARD MINE 

Has been extensively worked near the surface, but no 
greater vertical depth than about 300 feet has yet been 
attained. All the work has been done on or near the 
north end of the claim, on the north end of a ridge 
coming down from the high summit on the south, and 
running along the line of contact between the por- 
phyry country and the greenstone. Leopard Hill is 
or was covered over with rich chloride ore, most of 
which has been assorted and piled up for future use. 
Upon the apex of this hill the croppings were found, 
and here a number of pits, cuts, shafts, and inclines 
have been excavated. From the croppings, the vein 
or veins (for there are a number of them, approaching 
each other as they descend, and forming an aggre- 
gate thickness of twenty-seven feet) have been fol- 
lowed downward in unbroken sheets for over 300 
feet as the dip goes. In Ascending, the veins grow 
larger, approaching each other; the quartz is less mas- 
sive, much richer, (with a less percentage of gold) and 
the percolation of water seems to have carried into the 
mass particles of fine blue clay, which hold the smaller 
pieces of quartz and the rich particles of sulphurets 
together, the whole presenting an appearance precisely 
like that of the rich ore which came from the Ophir 
(upper) mine in 1863-4. The strata between the ore 
veins are composed, some of porphyry, with clay lin- 
ing, and some of blue clay, several feet in thickness, of 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 49 

about the consistency of putty when prepared for use 
by glaziers. A double shaft, each compartment being 
four feet six inches in the clear, is being sunk some 
distance west of the present working, and down the 
hill, for the purpose of tapping the lode 350 feet below 
the surface, at which depth it is confidently expected 
the several veins will have concentrated into a orreat 
bonanza between fixed walls. The lowest estimate 
we have heard made by those who vv^ere competent 
to judge, and who have examined this wonderful mine, 
of the value of the ore in sight, was $1,500,000. 

The first mill was destroyed by fire July 24th, 1875. 
The new mill started to work October 8th, 1875. Ca- 
pacity of new mill, twenty-four tons per day, dry crush- 
ing. Bullion shipped from January ist, 1875, up to Jan- 
uary ist, 1876, $414,626.78. Number of feet in mine, 
1,500. Number of shares, 50,000. No assessment has 
ever been levied upon the capital stock of the com- 
pany, and in all probability never will. This valuable 
claim has paid two dividends of fifty cents per share, 
and expects to resume dividends in February, 1876. 
Present monthly yield, from $80,000 to $90,000. Av- 
erage monthly expenses, $22,000. 

Hussey Consolidated. — Down 300 feet, and some 
good ore in large conformation. 

Panther. — Struck ledge about the last of December, , 
1875, 200 feet below surface; explored 120 feet in 
length. Ore, very high grade — has worked as high 
as $600 per ton. 



150 NEVADA, 

Tiger. — Is a continuation of the Panther, and shows 
same character of ore, with strong vein from three to 
five feet wide. This mine is opened to a depth of i 25 
feet. 

Constitution. — Lies parallel with the Tiger, and 
about 300 feet east of it. It is opened about 100 feet 
deep, showing ore of from $100 to ^150 per ton in 
value. 



Pladei' }/L\^Q^. 



In the year 1873, some rich placer mines were dis- 
covered, about seventy-five miles north of the town of 
Elko, and about twenty-five miles west of the Idaho 
line. They are situated on the head waters of the most 
northern tributary of the Owyhee River, and are said 
to be very rich. The only hindrance to their being 
successfully worked is a deficient supply of water. To 
supply this need, the Owyhee Water Company propose 
to bring in a good supply from a distance of twenty- 
five miles, at an estimated cost of $75,000. When 
this enterprise shall have been successfully carried 
through, water will be secured in sufficient quantity. 
Some of the claims in Hope Gulch, as the district is 
called, prospect as high as $2.50 per pan ; and as much 



THE LAND OF SILVER. I5I 

as $30 per day have been realized by a man rocking. 
The gold obtained has been assa3^ed in the United 
States Mints at San Francisco and Carson City, and 
proved worth ^1945 per ounce. 

A mining district has been organized, and local laws 
adopted. 



i 



MINING LAWS. 



Section i. Be it enacted by the Senate and House 
of Representatives of the United States of America, in 
Congress assembled, That all valuable mineral deposits 
in land belonging to the United States, both surveyed 
and unsurveyed, are hereby declared to be free and 
open to exploration and purchase, and the lands in 
which they are found to occupation and purchase, by 
citizens of the United States, and those who have de- 
clared their intention to become such, under regula- 
tions prescribed by law, and according to the local 
customs or rules of miners, in the several mining dis- 
tricts, so far as the same are applicable and not incon- 
sistent with the laws of the United States. 

Sec. 2. That mining claims upon veins or lodes of 
quartz or other rock in place, bearing gold, silver, cin- 
nabar, lead, tin, copper, or other valuable deposits, 
heretofore located, shall be governed, as to length along 
the vein or lode, by the customs, regulations, and laws 
in force at the date of their location. A mining claim 
located after the passage of this act, whether located 



154 NEVADA, 

by one or more persons, may equal, but shall not ex- 
ceed, one thousand five hundred feet in length along 
the vein or lode ; but no location of a mining claim 
shall be made until the discovery of the vein or lode 
within the limits of the claim located. No claim shall 
extend more than three hundred feet on each side of 
the middle of the vein at the surface, nor shall any 
claim be limited, by any mining regulation, to less than 
twenty-five feet on each side of the middle of the vein 
at the surface, except where adverse rights existing at 
the passage of this act shall render such limitation 
necessary. The end lines of each claim shall be 
parallel to each other. 

Sec. 3. That the locators of all mining locations 
herotofore made, or which shall hereafter be made, on 
any mineral vein, lode, or ledge, situated on the public 
domain, their heirs and assigns, where no adverse 
claim exists at the passage of this act, so long as they 
comply with the laws of the United States, and the 
State, Territorial, and local regulations not in conflict 
with said laws of the United States governing their 
possessory title, shall have the exclusive right of pos- 
session and enjoyment of all the surface included 
within the lines of their locations, and of all veins, 
lodes, and ledges, throughout their entire depth, the 
top or apex of which lies inside of such surface lines 
extended downward vertically, although such veins, 
lodes, or ledges may so far depart from a perpendicu- 
lar in their course downward as to extend outside the 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 55 

vertical side-lines of said surface locations : Provided, 
that their right of possession to such outside parts of 
such veins or ledges shall be confined to such portions 
thereof as lie between vertical planes drawn downward 
as aforesaid, through the end-lines of their locations, 
so continued in their own direction that such planes 
will intersect such exterior parts of said veins or 
ledges. And provided further, that nothing in this 
section shall authorize the locator or possessor of a 
vein or lode which extends, in its downward course, 
beyond the vertical lines of his claim, to enter upon 
the surface of a claim owned or possessed by another. 

Sec. 4. That where a tunnel is run for the develop- 
ment of a vein or lode, or for the discovery of mines, 
the owners of such tunnel shall have the right of posses- 
sion of all veins or lodes within three thousand feet 
from the face of such tunnel, on the line thereof, not 
previously known to exist, discovered in such tunnel, 
to the same extent as if discovered from the surface ; 
and locations on the lines of such tunnel of veins or 
lodes not appearing on the surface, made by other par- 
ties after the commencement of the tunnel, and while 
the same is being prosecuted with reasonable diligence, 
shall be invalid ; but failure to prosecute the work on 
the tunnel for six months shall be considered as an 
abandonment of the right to all undiscovered veins on 
the line of said tunnel. 

Sec. 5. That the miners of each mining district 
may make rules and regulations not in conflict with 



156 NEVADA, 

the laws of the United States, or with the laws of the 
State or Territory in which the district is situated, 
governing the location, manner of recording, amount 
of work necessary to hold possession of a mining 
claim, subject to the following requirements : The 
location must be distinctly marked on the ground, so 
that its boundaries can be readily traced. All records 
of mining claims hereafter made shall contain the 
name or names of the locators, the date of the loca- 
tion, and such a description of the claim or claims, 
located by reference to some natural object or perma- 
nent monument, as will identify the claim. On each 
claim located after the passage of this act, and until a 
patent shall have been issued therefor, not less than 
one hundred dollars' worth of labor shall be performed, 
or improvements made during each year. On all 
claims located prior to the passage of this act, ten 
dollars' worth of labor shall be performed or improve- 
ments made each year for each one hundred feet in 
length along the vein, until a patent shall have been 
issued therefor; but where such claims are held in 
common, such expenditure may be made upon any one 
claim ; and upon a failure to comply with these con- 
ditions, the claim or mine upon which such failure 
occurred shall be open to relocation in the same man- 
ner as if no location of the same had ever been made : 
Provided, that the original locators, their heirs, assigns, 
or legal representatives, have not resumed work upon 
the claim after such failure and before such location. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 57 

Upon the failure of any one of several co-owners to 
contribute his proportion of the expenditures required 
by this act, the co-owners who have performed the 
labor or made the improvements may, at the expiration 
of the year, give such delinquent co-owner pertonal 
notice in writing, or notice by publication in the news- 
paper published nearest the claim, for at least once a 
week for ninety days, and if at the expiration of ninety 
days after such notice in writing or by publication, such 
delinquent should fail or refuse to contribute his pro- 
portion to comply with this act, his interest in the. 
claim shall become the property of his co-owners who 
have made the required expenditures. 

Sec. 6. That a patent for any land claimed and 
located for valuable deposits may be obtained in the 
following manner: Any person, association, or cor- 
poration, authorized to locate a claim under this act, 
having claimed and located a piece of land for such 
purposes, who has or have complied with the terms of 
this act, may file in the proper land office an applica- 
tion for a patent, under oath, showing, such compli- 
ance, together with a plat and field-notes of the claim 
or claims in common, made by or under the direction 
of the United States Surveyor- General, showing accu- 
rately the boundaries of the claim or claims, which 
shall be distinctly marked by monuments on the 
grounds, and shall post a copy of such plat, together 
with a notice of such application for a patent, in a con- 
spicuous place on the land embraced in such plat, pre- 



158 NEVADA. 

vious to the filing of the application for a patent, and 
shall file an affidavit of at least two persons that such 
notice has been duly posted as aforesaid, and shall 
file a copy of said notice in such land office, and shall 
thereupon be entitled to a patent for said land in the 
manner following : The Register of the land office, 
upon the filing of such application, plat and field- 
notes, notices and affidavits, shall publish a notice 
that such application has been made, for the period 
of sixty days, in a newspaper to be by him designated 
as published nearest to sai'd claim ; and he shall also 
post such notice in his office for the same period. 
The claimant, at the time of filing his application, or 
at any time thereafter, within the sixty days of pub- 
lication, shall file with the Register a certificate of the 
United States Surveyor-General that five hundred dol- 
lars' vv^orth of labor has been expended or improve- 
ments made upon the claim by himself or grantors ; 
that the plat is correct, with such further description, 
by such reference to natural objects or permanent 
monuments, as shall identify the claim, and furnish an 
accurate description, to be incorporated in the patent. 
At the expiration of the sixty days of publication, the 
claimant shall file his affidavit, showing that the plat 
and notice have been posted in a conspicuous place 
on the claim during said period of publication. If no 
adverse claim shall have been filed with the Register 
and the Receiver of the proper land office at the ex- 
piration of the sixty days of publication, it shall be 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 59 

assumed that the appHcant is entitled to a patent, 
upon the payment to the proper officer of five dollars 
per acre, and that no adverse claim exists, and there- 
after no objection from third parties to the issuance of 
a patent shall be heard, except it be shown that the 
applicant has failed to comply with this act. 

Sec 7. That where an adverse claim shall be filed 
during the period of publication, it shall be upon oath 
of the person or persons making the same, and shall 
show the nature, boundaries, and extent of such ad- 
verse claim ; and all proceedings, except the publica- 
tion of notice and making and filing of the affidavit 
thereof, shall be stayed until the controversy shall have 
been settled or decided by a court of competent juris- 
diction, or the adverse claim waived. It shall be the 
duty of the adverse claimant, within thirty days after 
filing his claim, to commence proceedings in a court 
of competent jurisdiction, to determine the question 
of the right of possession, and prosecute the same 
with reasonable diligence to final judgment; and a 
failure so to do shall be a waiver of his adverse claim. 
After such judgment shall have been rendered, the 
party entitled to the possession of the claim, or any 
portion thereof, may, without giving further notice, file 
a certified copy of the judgment-roll with the Register 
of the land office, together with the certificate of the 
Surveyor-General thajt the requisite amount of labor 
has been expended, or improvements made thereon, 
and the description required in other cases, and shall 



1 60 NEVADA, 

pay to the Receiver five dollars per acre for his claim, 
together with the proper fees, whereupon the whole 
proceedings and the judgment-roll shall be certified 
by tlie Register to the Commissioner of the General 
Land Office, and a patent shall issue thereon for the 
claim, or such portion thereof as the applicant shall 
appear, from the decision of the court, to rightly pos- 
sess. If it shall appear, from the decision of the court, 
that several parties are entitled to separate and differ- 
ent portions of the claim, each party may pay for his 
portion of the claim, with the proper fees, and file the 
certificate and description by the Surveyor-General, 
whereupon the Register shall certify the proceedings 
and judgment-roll to the Commissioner of the Gen- 
eral Land Office, as in the preceding case, and pat- 
ents shall issue to the several parties according to 
their respective rights. Proof of citizenship under 
this act, or the acts of July twenty-sixth, eighteen 
hundred and sixty-six, and July ninth, eighteen hund- 
red and seventy, in the case of an individual, may 
consist of his own affidavit thereof; and in case 
of an association of persons unincorporated, of the 
affidavit of their authorized agent, made on his own 
knowledge, or upon information and belief; and in 
case of a corporation organized under the laws of the 
United States, or of any State or Territory of the 
United States, by the filing of a certified copy of their 
charter or certificate of incorporation ; and nothing 
herein contained shall be construed to prevent the 



THE LAND OF SILVER. l6l 

alienation of the title conveyed by a patent for a min- 
ing claim to any person whatever. 

Sec. 8. That the description of vein or lode claims, 
upon surveyed lands, shall designate the location of the 
claim with reference to the lines of the public surveys, 
but need not conform therewith ; but where a patent 
shall be issued as aforesaid for claims upon unsurveyed 
lands, the Surveyor-General, in extending the surveys, 
shall adjust the same to the boundaries of such pat- 
ented claim, according to the plat or description there- 
of, but so as in no case to interfere or change the 
location of any such patented claim. 

Sec. 9. That sections one, two, three, four, and six 
of an act entitled " An Act granting the right of way 
to ditch and canal owners over the public lands, and 
for other purposes," approved July twenty-sixth, eight- 
een hundred and sixty-six, are hereby repealed, but 
such repeal shall not affect existing rights. Applica- 
tions for patents for mining claims now pending may 
be prosecuted to a final decision in the General Land 
Office ; but in such cases, where adverse rights are not 
affected thereby, patents may issue in pursuance of the 
provisions of this act ; and all patents for mining claims 
heretofore issued under the act of July twenty-sixth, 
eighteen hundred and sixty-six, shall convey all the 
rights and privileges conferred by this act, where no 
adverse rights exist at the time of the passage of this 
act. 

Sec. 10. That the act entitled " An Act to amend 



1 62 NEVADA, 

an Act granting the right of way to ditch and canal 
owners over the pubHc lands, and for other purposes," 
approved July ninth, eighteen hundred and seventy, 
shall be and remain in full force, except as to the pro- 
ceedings to obtain a patent, which shall be similar to the 
proceedings prescribed by sections six and seven of 
this act for obtaining patents to vein or lode claims ; 
but where said placer claims shall be upon surveyed 
lands, and conform to legal subdivision, no further sur- 
vey or plat shall be required, and all placer mining 
claims hereafter located shall conform as near as prac- 
ticable with the United States system of public land sur- 
veys and the rectangular subdivisions of such surveys, 
and no such location shall include more than twenty 
acres for each individual claimant ; but where placer 
claims cannot be conformed to legal subdivisions, sur- 
vey and plat shall be made as on unsurveyed lands : 
Provided, That proceedings now pending may be pros- 
ecuted to their final determination under existing laws ; 
but the provisions of this act, when not in conflict with 
existing laws, shall apply to such cases : And provided 
also, That where, by the segregation of mineral land 
in any legal subdivision, a quantity of agricultural land 
less than forty acres remains, said fractional portion of 
agricultural land may be entered by any party qualified 
by law, for homestead or pre-emption purposes. 

Sec. II. That where the same person, association, 
or corporation is in possession of a placer claim, and 
also a vein or lode included within the boundaries 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 63 

thereof, application shall be made for a patent for the 
placer claim, with the statement that it includes such 
vein or lode, and in su§li case (subject to the provi- 
sions of this act and the act entitled " An act to amend 
an act granting the right of way to ditch and canal own- 
ers over the public lands, and for other purposes," ap- 
proved July ninth, eighteen hundred and seventy) a pat- 
ent shall issue for the placer claim, including such vein 
or lode, upon the payment of five dollars per acre for 
such vein or lode claim, and twenty-five feet of surface 
on each side thereof. The remainder of the placer 
claim, or any placer claim not embracing any vein or 
lode claim, shall be paid for at the rate of two dollars 
and fifty cents per acre, together with all costs of pro- 
ceedings ; and where a vein or lode, such as is de- 
scribed in the second section of this act, is known to 
exist within the boundaries of a placer claim, an appli- 
cation for a patent for such placer claim, which does 
not include an application for the vein or lode claim, 
shall be construed as a conclusive declaration that the 
claimant of the placer claim has no right of possession 
of the vein or lode claim ; but where the existence of 
a vein or a lode in a placer claim is not known, a patent 
for the placer claim shall convey all valuable mineral 
and other deposits within the boundaries thereof. 

Sec. 12. That the Surveyor-General of the United 
States may appoint, in each land district containing 
mineral lands, as many competent surveyors as shall 
apply for appointment to survey mining claims. The 



164 NEVADA, 

expenses of the survey of vein or lode claims, and the 
survey and subdivision of placer claims into smaller 
quantities than one hundred #nd sixty -acres, together 
with the cost of publication of notices, shall be paid 
by the applfcants, and they shall be at liberty to obtain 
the same at the most reasonable rates, and they shall 
also be at liberty to employ any United States Deputy 
Surveyor to make the survey. The Commissioner of 
the General Land Office shall also have power to es- 
tablish the maximum charges for surveys and publica- 
tion of notices under this act; and, in case of exces- 
sive charges for publication, he may designate any 
newspaper published in a land district where mines 
are situated, for the publication of mining notices in 
such district, and fix the rates to be charged by such pa- 
per; and, to the end that the Commissioner may be fully 
informed on the subject, each applicant shall file with 
the Register a sworn statement of all charges and the 
fees paid by said applicant for publication and surveys, 
together with all fees and money paid the Register and 
the Receiver of the Land Office, which statement shall 
be transmitted, with the other papers in the case, to the 
Commissioner of the General Land Office. The fees 01 
the Register and the Receiver shall be five dollars each 
for filing and acting upon each application for patent 
or adverse claim filed, and they shall be allowed the 
amount fixed by law for reducing testimony to writing 
— when done in the land office, such fees and allow- 
ances to be paid by the respective parties — and no 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 65 

other fees shall be charged by them in such cases. 
Nothing in this act shall be construed to enlarge or 
affect the rights of either party in regard to any prop- 
erty in controversy at the time of the passage of this 
act, or of the act entitled " An Act grantiitg the right 
of way to ditch and canal owners over the public lands, 
and for other purposes," approved July twenty-sixth, 
eighteen hundred and sixty-six ; nor shall this act af- 
fect any right acquired under said act ; and nothing in 
this act shall be construed to repeal, impair, or in any 
way affect, the provisions of the act entitled "An Act 
granting to A. Sutro the right of way and other priv- 
ileges to aid in the construction of a draining and ex- 
ploring tunnel to the Comstock Lode, in the State of 
Nevada," approved July twenty-fifth; eighteen hundred 
and sixty-six. 

Sec. 13. That all affidavits required to be made 
under this act, or the act of which it is amendatory, 
may be verified before any officer authorized to admin- 
ister oaths within the land-district where the claims 
may be situated, and all testimony and proofs may be 
taken before any such ofiicer, and, when duly certified 
by the officer taking the same, shall have the same 
force and effect as if taken before the Register and 
Receiver of the land office. In cases of contest as to 
the mineral or agricultural character of land, the testi- 
mony and proofs may be taken as herein provided, on 
personal notice of at least ten days, to the opposing 
party ; or if said party cannot be found, then by publi- 



I 66 NEVADA, 

cation of at least once a week for thirty days in a news 
paper to be designated by the Register of the land 
office as published nearest to the location of such land ; 
and the Register shall require proof that such notice 
has been given. 

Sec. 14. That where two or more veins intersect 
or cross each other, priority of title shall govern, and 
such prior location shall be entitled to all ore or min- 
eral contained within the space of intersection : Pro- 
vided, however. That the subsequent location shall have 
the right of way through said space of intersection for 
the purposes of the convenient working of the said 
mine: And provided also, That where two or more 
veins unite, the oldest or prior location shall take the 
vein below the poiftt of union, including all the space 
of intersection. 

Sec. 15. That where non-mineral land, not con- 
tiguous to the vein or lode, is used or occupied by the 
proprietor of such vein or lode for mining or milling 
purposes, such non-adjacent surface-ground may be 
embraced and included in an application for a patent 
for such vein or lode, and the same may be patented 
therewith, subject to the same preliminary require- 
ments as to survey and notice as are applicable under 
this act to veins or lodes : Provided, that no location 
hereafter made of such non-adjacent land shall exceed 
five acres, and payment for the same must be made at 
the same rate as fixed by this act for the superficies of 
the lode. The owner of a quartz mill or reduction 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 67 

works, not owning a mine in connection therewith, 
may also receive a patent for his mill-site as provided 
in this section. 

Sec. 16. That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent 
herewith are hereby repealed : Provided, that nothing 
contained in this act shall be construed to impair, in 
any way, rights or interests in mining property acquired 
under existing laws. 

Approved May loth, 1872. 



MINERAL DEPOSITS. 



Previous chapters having been devoted to the con- 
sideration of the precious metals in their various in- 
terests and developments, we propose, in this, to de- 
scribe the other minerals of Nevada, of which she has 
not a few. Among those which will be very valuable, 
so soon as facilities for transportation permit their be- 
ing brought to market, we may mention copper, iron 
ore, coal, borax, antimony, soda, salt, isinglass, sulphur, 
marble, sandstone, granite, etc. 



CSocppei^. 



In Humboldt County, beyond the divide made by a 
spur of the Battle Mountain range, two and a half 
miles south of Galena, are the Virgin and Lake Su- 
perior copper mines. The course of the Virgin vein 
is twenty degrees east of south; dip westerly, forty 



1 70 NEVADA, 

degrees. The vein is about eight feet in width, though 
in one place it widens out to forty feet. The ore is 
carbonate, red oxide, and native copper. It is found in 
pockets, and is not diffused regularly throughout the 
entire vein matter. This, in many places, is composed 
of clay, iron pyrites, and black oxide of iron. The 
country rock is limestone, which shows good walls, 
between which the vein matter is very regular. 

The Lake Superior mine is in the same neighbor- 
hood as the Virgin. The vein in this mine contains 
great bodies of clay, in which are found leaves of na- 
tive copper. The character of the ore is nearly the 
same as that found in the Virgin — copper glance, red 
oxide, blue carbonate, and native copper. The ore 
transported to England contains about twenty-eight 
per cent, though much of that obtained from the mine 
yields as high as seventy-five per cent. 

There is also a large copper vein in Robinson Dis- 
trict, in White Pine County, which shows sixty per 
cent, of copper. 

In the vicinity of Peavine, Washoe County, about 
eleven miles north of Reno, are extensive veins of 
copper. The mines here have never been worked to 
any extent, however, although the richness of the ore 
ranges from twenty to fifty per cent. Copper ore of 
excellent quality is found in Ormsby County, on the 
Carson River. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. I7I 



Ii^ oi\ Oi^e. 



•There are three veins of iron ore in Esmeralda 
County. One of these, found near the east branch of 
Walker River, assays from forty to fifty per cent, of 
iron. Another, near Rough Creek, is eight feet wide. 
In Robinson's District, White Pine County, there is a 
large lode of ore, which yields about fifty per cent, of 
iron. Iron of good quality is found, also, near Carson 
River, and in Sullivan's District. 



Cioa], 



" Some coal mines have been discovered in White 
Pine County, in the Pancake range of mountains, 
fifteen miles distant from Hamilton, and twenty-one 
miles from Eureka, nearly due east. Evidence of coal 
was noticed here several years ago, but nothing was 
done in the way of prospecting for the veins until the 
summer of 1871, when a shaft was sunk thirty feet. 
At this depth water was found, and some veins of coal 
four feet thick. The coal obtained is of a superior 



172 NEVADA, 

quality ; it burns and cokes well. Three distinct veins 
have been found here, which can be traced for a dis- 
tance of two miles, and which vary in width from four 
to six feet. Above the water level, the material com- 
posing the vein consists of the oxide of iron, mixed 
• with carbonaceous matter of a loose and crumbling 
nature ; but it becomes more solidified, and is par- 
tially crystallized, as soon as the water level is reached, 
and seams of coal from one to two inches in thickness 
are found. The veins dip under the mountain to the 
west, at an angle of forty degrees, and their course is 
fifteen degrees east of south from the point of dis- 
covery. The geological formation here is favorable for 
the development of a coal mine. It resembles very 
much that of the Wyoming coal fields. Whether or 
not coal will be found here in any great quantity is a 
question which future work alone can determine." 

EL DORADO CANON COAL MINES. 

Coal was discovered in this canon some eight or ten 
years ago. The bearing of this vein is north and 
south ; dip to the west. This vein is between ten and 
fifteen feet in width. The shaft is down to a depth of 
200 feet. Several coal experts pronounce the indica- 
tions in El Dorado Canon superior to anything on the 
Pacific Coast, and deem it only a question of time 
when a large deposit of cannel coal will be found. 
There are other claims being opened, with flattering 



/'•' 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 73 

results. One company has a tunnel in some 130 feet, 
all the way in good coal indications. 

Coal has been found in Esmeralda County, in large 
quantities, near the e^fet branch of Walker River. 

Indications of coal exist near Crystal Peak, in 
Washoe County. The quality of the coal thus far ex- 
tracted is not first-class, but further developments may 
reveal large bodies of first-class coal. 



Sofkx. 



" The richest and most extensive deposits of the salts 
of borax yet discovered, in any part of the world, are 
found in the vicinity of Columbus, Esmeralda County. 
Columbus, Fish Lake, and Teal's Marshes alone con- 
tain twenty thousand acres of borax land, which will 
yield an unlimited supply for an indefinite period." 

" Rhodes' borax field lies fourteen miles northwest of 
Columbus. There are several hundred acres of borax 
lands here. Native borax, in large, white, monoclinic 
crystals, is found in the mud near the surface, from six 
inches to a foot in depth." The borates are also found 
here. The following analysis of the borate of lime 
was made by Professor Price, of San Francisco, from 
samples taken from fourteen tons of the material ob- 
tained at Columbus : 



174 NEVADA, 

Sesquloxide of iron and alumina 2.25 

Chloride of sodium and potassium 6.25 

Sulphate of soda 2.70 

Lime ^ n.io 

Boracic acid 36-24 

Water 29.35 

Insoluble residue 12.15 



1 00.04 



The alkali flats of Churchill County have been found 
to contain a large per cent, of borax and of the borates 
of lime and soda, from which is manufactured the bo- 
rax of commerce. 

hot" springs borax marsh. 

Borax is found near Hot Springs, on the line of the 
Central Pacific Railroad. It is held in solution in the 
waters obtained there. " It obtains also in small con- 
cretions, from the size of a bean to that of an egg, in 
the sands and loose soil. The company at work here 
is engaged in condensing the particles of borate of lime 
by washing away the sand and dirt, and in evaporating 
the waters in which the boracic acid is held in solu- 
tion. From the acids and borates obtained, borax is 
manufactured." 

salt wells borax marsh. 

" In the low, sandy flat to the east of the upper sink 
of the Carson, in the same valley with Sand Springs 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 175 

Salt Marsh, salts of borax are found deposited in 
the soil, and covering it in the form of solid efflor- 
escences, in places coating it with a whitish crust, or 
light crystallization. It is found here in variable quan- 
tities, covering an area of seven miles square. 

" The richest portion of this marsh — that which will 
be profitable to work — comprises an area of four sec- 
tions, or about two thousand five hundred acres. On 
this portion of the marsh, after an incrustation of a 
few inches thick has been removed, another is formed 
on the surface soon after, and so like the former on 
the neighboring ground from which none has been 
taken, that the difference cannot be detected, except 
by very close observation. It is inferred from this 
fact that the supply contained in this mud flat is inex- 
haustible. It certainly will not be exhausted for many 
years." 



Sr\tiir|Oi]y. 



The antimony mines are situated in Humboldt 
County, twelve miles south of Battle Mountain, a 
station on the Central Pacific Railroad. The mines 
contain two parallel veins, about lOO feet apart, one of 
which has been prospected. Both crop out for more 
than a mile, commencing from the top of a ridge, 



1 76 NEVADA, 

where the Mountain King shaft has been opened, de- • 
scending with the hill about 1,000 feet in a distance of 
1,500 feet north, where they cross a canon, and thence 
rise on the opposite ridge, where another shaft, the 
Columbia, has been sunk to a depth of ninety-three 
feet, at a point about eighty feet above the caiion. 

The Mountain King shaft is fifteen feet deep, and 
exhibits from surface to bottom, and in the bottom, a 
continuous vein, two feet thick, of solid sulphuret of 
antimony. The vein is perpendicular, and has well 
defined, regular walls, clearly cutting the country rock. 

In the Columbia shaft the vein is not so regular or 
well defined, but still contains, in a width of four feet, 
fully two feet of solid ore. The vein is sometimes 
divided into two or three strings by intervening horses. 
From the excavation 3,750 cubic feet of rock were re- 
moved, which furnished 1 50 tons of clean ore, being at 
the rate of one ton per twenty-five cubic feet. Of this 
ore, fifty tons have been removed and sold, or used, 
while one hundred tons are on the dump. 

The ore from the Columbia shaft is an intimate 
mixture of sulphuret and oxide of antimony, quite 
free from any other mineral or metal. A careful 
analysis of a fair average sample of the ore, rough 
dressed, resulted as follows : 

Moisture 2.82 

Alumina (clay) 1.58 

Silica . 1 2.62 

Antimony 62.28 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 77 

Bismuth 6.63 

Sulphur 15.31 

Oxygen (calculated) 4.06 

Total 105-30 

" These mines are peculiarly interesting, on account 
of the singular purity of the ore, since the absence of 
lead and copper greatly facilitates the production, by 
the simplest reduction process, of an excellent quality 
of regulus of antimony. All who have used it pro- 
nounce it equal to the imported refined regulus, 
although some of the pigs were not quite free from 
sulphur. Mining the ore costs, by contract, ^2.00 per 
ton. Hauling from the mines to the station, $4.00 per 
ton. Freight to San Francisco, $10.00 per ton; to 
England, via Cape Horn, say $15.00 per ton of 2,000 
pounds. The ore is worth in England from ^12 to 
^15 per miner's ton of 2,352 pounds — equivalent to 
about $50.00 to $62.00 per 2,000 pounds. The regulus 
is worth from twelve to fourteen cents per pound. 
From these figures it is apparent that a mine of base 
metal exclusively — for the silver in these antimony 
ores is too insignificant to be regarded — in the Pacific 
States, may return quite handsome profits, and be more 
desirable property than mines of silver and gold not 
strictly first-class." 
12 



178 NEVADA. 



godk. 



The Nevada Soda Company acquired possession of 
a small lake in Churchill County, having an area of 
about seven acres, which is a perfect well of carbonate 
of soda, in its almost pure state. This article, in its 
crude state, can be obtained from this reservoir to the 
extent of twenty thousand tons a year. " It is a mer- 
chantable article for various purposes, as the manufac- 
ture of soap, and for uses of flux in the crushing mills, 
for which it is largely employed, already, at Virginia 
City. This substance forms on the shore of the lake 
as fast as removed, and the supply is, therefore, inex- 
haustible. By a simple process the crude article can 
be manufactured into bicarbonate of soda, sal soda, or 
caustic soda. Its caustic properties are said to be very 
strong." 



gklt. 



This valuable article is obtained in large quantities 
in Nevada. It is found in certain marshes, in whose 
waters it is held in solution, and from which it is ob- 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 79 

tained by solar evaporation in shallow vats. Of these 
marshes the Eagle, Sand Springs, Spaulding's, and 
Williams' are the principal. 

EAGLE SALT MARSH. 

This marsh is situated in Churchill County, about 
two miles from Hot Springs Station on the Central 
Pacific Railroad. 

The waters of this marsh contain thirty per cent, of 
salt — almost their full capacity of saturation ; and when 
crystallized it is almost chemically pure, containing 99.38 
of chloride of sodium and sixty-two hundredths of the 
sulphate. 

The proprietor of this marsh owns 3,500 acres of 
these salt lands — a great deal more, in fact, than that 
on which the salt springs can be found. He supplies 
all the mills working ores from the Comstock Lode. 
Three thousand tons are consumed annually by the 
mills working the ores obtained from this vein. 

SAND SPRINGS SALT MARSH. 

This marsh, the property of the Bank of California, 
furnishes an inexhaustible supply of pure salt, which 
is obtained by shoveling it up from the bed, which is 
of unknown thickness. 

spaulding's SALT MARSH. 

This marsh is situated in Smoky Valley, two miles. 



l8o NEVADA, 

from the line between Lander and Nye Counties. The 
mud flat from which the salt is obtained is half a mile 
square, though the salt is produced in sufficient quan- 
tities and pure enough to be profitable to gather from 
an area of about one hundred acres. Ten crops are 
gathered yearly, yielding about two thousand tons. 
Salt has been obtained from this marsh, in this man- 
ner, for the last ten years. 

THE MUDDY SALT MINES. 

" The salt bluffs to the west of the Rio Virgin, in 
Colorado Basin, are the most remarkable deposits in 
the State. Here there is a body of salt nearly two 
miles in length and half a mile wide, and of an un- 
known depth. These bluffs are about five hundred 
feet in height above the level of the vallc}^. The salt 
is covered with a hard coating of sand and earth, vary- 
ing from one to several feet in thickness ; the crystal- 
lization is perfect, and it is chemically pure. It is hard 
and solid, and in order to be mined requires blasting. 
Large blocks are taken from this place, so transparent 
that a newspaper can be read through them. These 
mines are situated twenty-five miles from the Colorado 
River, and one hundred and fifty from Pioche." 

Williams' salt marsh 

Is located in Diamond Valley, forty-three miles north 
of Eureka, and ten miles east of Mineral Hill. It 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 151 

contains a thousand acres of salt land, from which salt 
is obtained in incrustations on the surface, and from 
the solution in the waters. The flat, however, which 
this marsh drains, is fifteen miles long and six miles 
wide. Salt was obtained here for a long time by 
gathering the incrustations without refining ; but it 
was not very pure, containing only sixty per cent, of 
salt. 

Salt is found also in Esmeralda County, where it is 
very abundant, and a good deal of it pure and white. 
Indeed, the salt-beds of Nevada are unquestionably the 
largest on the continent. 



Kiq^k^^. 



Isiiiglass of fine quality, and in the greatest profusion, 
has lately been discovered about fifteen miles south of 
Humboldt Wells, in Elko County. 



1 82 NEVADA, 



Hul^^Vu^ 



p 



In Humboldt County, and within one hundred yards 
of the Central Pacific Railroad, are beds of sulphur, 
capable, it is believed, of supplying the whole world 
with that article for centuries. These sulphur deposits 
are located in the Humboldt Valley, not much over a 
mile from the Humboldt House, and probably thrice 
that distance from the base of the Humboldt Range. 
But little is known, in reality, of the extent of the beds, 
except that they cover a large area in the valley, and 
have been prospected, in one place, to a depth of sev- 
eral feet, where the excavations expose hundreds of 
tons of the pure article, which can be made available 
for commercial purposes at no greater expense than 
loading it in the cars and shipping it to the great com- 
mercial centers. Being so convenient to the railroad, 
this property is valuable. 

" The native sulphur of commerce is obtained chiefly 
from Sicily. The annual product of all the Italian 
mines is about 300,000 tons, and is valued at about six 
million of dollars. 

" The uses of sulphur as a combustible for matches, 
as an ingredient for gunpowder, in the manufacture of 
sulphuric acid, in medicine, and various other purposes, 
are well known and important." 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 83 



Five miles southeast of Carson City, in Ormsby 
County, there is a marble bed which yields a very su- 
perior stone, equally well adapted for useful or orna- 
mental -purposes. 



^ki\cl^toi\e. 



This stone is found in abundance in Carey's quar- 
ries, about a mile and a half east of Carson City. It 
is of a soft, porous nature, working readily under the 
chisel when first taken out, and hardening on exposure 
to the air. It is therefore easily wrought, durable, 
and resists heat almost as well as fire-brick. 

Granite, and suitable clays for making brick, abound 
everywhere. 

Limestone is found in abundance in almost every 
county in the State. 

We close this chapter with a list of the minerals 
found in Esmeralda County, and another of those ob- 
tained in Reese River District, Lander County. 



184 NEVADA, 



Li,^t of ^ir^ei'h.!^ ii'oioc[ %^rr[Q^Uih dour\ty. 



The minerals sent from Esmeralda County to the 
General Land Office at Washington are : 
I and 2. Rich gold and silver bearing rock. 

3. Cinnabar. 

4. Coal, from near the east branch of Walker River. 

5. Salt. 

6. Alum, found in large quantities ; some of it very 
pure. 

7. Pumice stone, very fine quality. 

8. Rose quartz. 

9. Lime rock. 

10. Crystal. 

11. Chalcedony, rough bowlders, hollow inside, and 
coated with a variety of beautiful colors, resembling 
agate. 

12. Galena, or lead, with sulphurets of iron and 
quartz mixed in it. 

13. Obsidian, found over a large space of country. 

14. Plumbago, in white quartz, from La Plata Dis- 
trict. Ledge six feet wide, discovered near the east 
branch of Walker River. 

15. Gypsum, from near the east branch of Walker 
River; found in large quantities; very pure, so as to 
be almost transparent, and can be bent by the hand. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 85 

16. Gypsum, from under the iron ore at Rough 
Creek ; found in large quantities. 

1 7. Fire clay. 

18. Chalk, found in large quantities. 

19. Yellow ochre, a very pure article. 



I<t^t of jVIii^ei'kl^ ii'orr\ ^ee^e ?(ivei' ©i^tridt, 
I(kr\elef CJour\ty. 



The following list of minerals found in Reese River 
District, Lander County, was prepared by Mr. E. N. 
Riotte, metallurgist, formerly of Austin, and is taken 
from Mr. Raymond's report for 1870: 

I. Native elements : native gold, native silver. 

II. a. Binary compounds : i. Stibnite ; 2. Silver 
glance, erubescite, galena, blende, copper glance, strom- 
eyerite, pyrrhotine ; 3. Pyrites, marcasite, leucopyrite, 
chalopyrite, misprickel, molybdenite. 

S. Ternary compounds : pyrargyrite, pronstite, tetra- 
hedrite, polybasite, stephanite. 

III. a. Binary compounds of chlorine, etc.: com- 
mon salt, kerargyrite, bromyrite, iodyrite, (?) embolite. 

IV. Compounds of fluorine: not represented. 

V. a. Oxygen binary compounds : red copper, 
hematite, braunite, hausmannite, rutite, pyrolusite, 



1 86 NEVADA. 

gothite, manganite, psilomelan, wad, molybdite, quartz, 
opal. 

b. Oxygen ternary compounds (salts) : pyroxene, 
rhodonite, hornblende, chrysolite, epidote, muscovite, 
lepidolite, oligoclase, orthoclase, sphene, tourmaline, 
chrysocoUa, scheeletine, (stolzite) hiibnerite, trolframite, 
anglesite, gypsum, barite, jarosite, cyanosite, copperas, 
stetefeldtite, pitticite, niter, glauber salts, calcite, mag- 
nesite, dolomite, chalybite, aragonite cerussite, trona, 
natron, malachite, azurite. 

VI. Hydro-carbon compounds : not represented. 



AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 



Having in the preceding chapters of this work 
treated exclusively of Nevada's mineral wealth, we 
come now to look at her agricultural products. 

In our chapter on her natural resources, (which see) 
we have said all that is necessary about the quality of 
her soil and the extent of her stock-raising lands. 
Here, therefore, we need but give such data as will 
show what has been actually accomplished ; and in do- 
ing this we are only fullfilling the promise made on 
the twenty-second page. 

TABLE SHOWING THE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS FOR I 874. 



Wheat 4^346 

Barley 26,651 

Oats. 5,372 

Rye 100 

Corn 493 

Buckwheat 12 

Peas 326 

Beans 53 



GROSS YIELD, 


AVE15AGE 


BUSHELS. 


PER ACHE. 


73,600 


17 


506,790 


igh 


74>695 


14 


1,000 


10 


3450 


28 


200 


17 


3450 


10^ 


590 


II 



I 88 NEVADA, 



GRAIN, ETC. 



ACRES GROSS YIELD, AVERAGE 

SOWN. BUSHELS. PER ACRE. 



Potatoes 4)136 290,458 70 

Sweet potatoes i 24 96 

Onions 76 4,216 555 

Hops I 125 lbs 125 

Beets, number of tons raised 314 

Turnips, " " " 320 

Pumpkins and squashes, number of tons raised 5,352 

Butter, number of pounds . , . , . » 22,200 

Wool, " " 668,738 

Honey, " " 7,400 

Acres of hay cut, 72,101 yield, 77,626 tons. 

FRUIT TREES. 

Apple, 25,782; peach, 5,069; pear, 2,874; plum, 
3,364; cherry, 1,506; nectarine, 276; quince, 316; 
apricot, 158; fig, 97; lemon, 2; gooseberry, 13,024; 
raspberry, 5,500; strawberry, 74,100; grape vines, 
32,526. 

DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 

Horses, 22,131; mules, 4,530; asses, 202; cows, 
49,895 ; calves, 28,005 ! beef cattle, 75,082 ; oxen, 5,793. 
Total number of cattle, 185,638. 

LIVE STOCK. 

Sheep, 185,486; Cashmere and Angora goats, 2,439; 
hogs, 5,290; chickens, 49,202 ; turkeys, 2,050; geese, 
355 ; ducks, 4,444; hives of bees, 662. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 89 

IMPROVEMENTS. 

Grist mills, 14; lumber mills, 27; lumber sawed, 
3,480,000 feet; quartz mills, 143; tons of quartz 
crushed in 'jT) '^^'^ '74' 1)263,392; mining ditches, 7; 
miles in length, 35. 



dlini^te. 



The climate of Nevada, considering the general 
elevation of the country above sea-level, is mild, not 
being subject to great extremes, either of heat or cold. 
The days of summer are not warmer than on the east 
side of the Rocky Mount^fins, while the nights are uni- 
formly cool and refreshing. In the extreme northern 
portion of the State the temperature is never so low as to 
necessitate the precautions and inconveniences to which 
the Middle and Northern States are subjected. In the 
southern part of the State the greater part of the year 
is very equable. The temperature is very mild, the 
thermometer seldom below freezing point. Snow 
scarcely ever falls in the valleys, and frosts are rare. 
In May and June, however, the days are exceedingly 
hot, the thermometer ranging from ninety-five degrees 
to one hundred and fifteen degrees Fahrenheit in the 



1 90 NEVADA, 

shade. The heat is modified to a great extent by cool 
breezes from the mountains, and differences of eleva- 
tion ; though at times hot blasts of wind come from 
the south, absorbing all the moisture that has fallen 
during the night, like the hot simoons that blow across 
Syria and Arabia. With this temperature, high for two 
months, it does not propagate either the malaria of the 
tropical country, or the lassitude and indolence of its 
inhabitants. 

The winters of Nevada are much less severe than in 
the States east of the Rocky Mountains, and but little 
snow falls, except on the mountain ranges. 

Not much rain falls between April and October in 
the northern and western part of the State. In the 
south and east there is a greater rain-fall, and showers 
are not unusual during the summer months. The 
maximum quantity of water falls during the autumn 
and winter. 

In the Sierra Nevada the element of altitude comes 
in to affect the. climate, and especially to prolong and 
intensify the winters. The higher portions of the 
Sierra rise to the limits of perpetual snow, and the 
climiate there is, of course, arctic in its severity, the 
thermometer falling below the freezing point every 
night in the year. During our recent visit to the 
State, three feet of snow fell in three days on the 
mountains around Virginia City, yet it was not very 
cold — nothing to compare with some of the Eastern 
States. 



MOUNTAINS, VALLEYS, RIVERS, ETC. 



In an early chapter, we described the physical as- 
pect of Nevada as a whole, and now, for the benefit of 
those who may desire to know more than could be 
learned from such general treatment, we propose to go 
somewhat into particulars. 



]\Iotii\t^ii\^. 



The mountains of Nevada are grouped more closely 
in the center of the State than near the boundaries, 
and they are more numerous in the north than in the 
south. Toward the south the principal ranges are the 
Kingston, Spring Mountain, Vegas, and Muddy ranges. 
Generally parallel,- they sometimes interlock and curve 
back to their former course, thus forming long, diamond- 
shaped valleys between. Their altitudes vary from 
i,ooo to 8,000 feet above the level of the valleys. 



192 NEVADA, 

Charleston Peak, the highest point on these ranges, 
is 11,000 feet above the level of the sea. Rugged and 
precipitous, their ridges and peaks are often without 
any covering of soil — solid masses of bare rock. Ex- 
cept upon the Spring Mountain range, they show 
but little vegetation, and their ravines and canons are 
without water. In the center of the State, there are 
several high ranges, viz., the New Pass, Shoshone, 
Simpson's, and the Toyabee. The last is the principal 
range. It rises high over the others. Perched upon 
its serrated ridge, the view embraces four degrees of 
longitude, being bounded on the east by the White 
Pine and East Humboldt range, and on the west by 
the towering peaks of the Sierra Nevada. Snow rests 
upon the higher summits of the Toyabee range until 
late in the summer. Globe Peak, the highest on the 
range, is 1 1,237 feet above sea level. 

The Sierra Nevada comes within the western bound- 
ary of the State, and is the only range which is richly 
and plentifully wooded. Covered with oak, manzanita, 
and nut pine, to an altitude of about 2,500 feet, the 
growth thence becomes more luxuriant, and dense for- 
ests of coniferous trees reach up to 9,000 feet. The 
altitude of this great range varies throughout its length 
— its highest peak, Mount Whitney, is 1 5,086 feet high ; 
but this peak is in California. 

In the eastern part of the State there are the East 
Humboldt, Silver, Mammoth, Augusta, and White 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 93 

Pine ranges, of which the last has an altitude of over 
10,000 feet. 

In the north there are the Trinity, Antelope, and 
Santa Rosa ranges, all similar, in general features, to 
those already described. 



Yalle}^^. 



The outline of the mountains of Nevada just given 
will also convey some idea of her valleys. Flanked 
generally by adjoining ranges, the valleys, like the 
hills, have a general north and south direction, though 
some of them trend to other points. As they are 
somewhat numerous, and we intend to describe all the 
larger ones in detail, we omit all general description, 
and proceed at once to treat them separately. 

CARSON VALLEY. 

This first settled of the valleys of Nevada lies under 
the eastern shadow of the towering peaks of the Sierra 
Nevada mountains, and runs in a north and south 
direction along the base of the snowy range. It is one 
of the most fertile and productive valleys in the State, 
being watered with numerous cool and refreshing 
13 



194 NEVADA, 

streams from the snow-capped summits, as well as by 
the Carson River, which flows through its center, and 
furnishes a plentiful supply of water for irrigating pur- 
poses. There are many well improved farms in this 
valley, and they produce grain, hay, and vegetables of 
all kinds. Its agricultural and grazing lands, which 
comprise about one-third of the entire area of the 
valley, may be set down at sixty or seventy thousand 
acres, the rest being tule, marsh, or barren sage land. 

EAGLE VALLEY. 

Eagle Valley, though but six miles square, has the 
honor of possessing the State capital. Lying about 
four miles north of Carson Valley, it is shut in on all 
sides by the everlasting hills. Beautiful in appearance, 
its soil is not so productive as that of Carson Valley, 
but it is well adapted for alfalfa. Around the capital, 
where there are a number of flourishing gardens, the 
soil is quite good. 

WASHOE VALLEY. 

^Vashoe Valley lies one mile north of Eagle Valley, 
and is about twelve miles long by seven wide. Besides 
being fertile, it is a very regularly formed and exceed- 
ingly picturesque valley. Throughout almost its entire 
length it can be irrigated by the crystal streams which 
descend from the abrupt mountains which flank its 
western side. On this side, too, there are long tongues 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 95 

of limber, or detached groves, which run out from the 
adjacent forests and form natural parks of great beauty. 
Considerable quantities of grain, principally barley and 
oats, are raised in this valley ; so, also, are excellent 
fruit and vegetables of the best quality. The atten- 
tion of the settlers, however, is given principally to hay 
and stock, and to this end cultivated orrasses are beinsf 
successfully introduced. 

The climate of the valley is dry and healthful ; and 
its water, which is derived from mountain snows and 
springs, of the purest quality. 

Of the area of truly good and arable land in this 
valley, not more than one-fourth has yet been subjected 
to ordinary thorough operations ; so there is abundant 
room for enterprise. 

Washoe Valley was first settled in 1855, by a band 
of Mormons from Salt Lake. 

PLEASANT VALLEY. 

Pleasant Valley, a fertile and appropriately named 
basin, containing about a thousand acres of good land, 
lies two miles north of Washoe Valley. Well watered 
by a large stream of pure water, sweet as nectar, and 
hemmed in by towering mountains, it is admirably lo- 
cated. Several good farms and extensive gardens are 
cultivated here, with excellent results. Vegetables of 
most kinds grow here luxuriantly, even melons ripen- 
ing safely, notwithstanding the altitude of the country 
and the consequent early frosts. 



196 NEVADA, 

STEAMBOAT VALLEY. 

This valley includes the upper and lower portions 
of the country along Steamboat Creek, and contains 
about 6,000 acres. Some of the most prosperous farm- 
ers in the State reside here. A few cultivate alfalfa, 
but the majority raise grain. The soil of this valley is 
good. In the upper end of the valley there is some 
natural meadow. 

TRUCKEE VALLEY. 

Truckee Valley lies about seven miles north of 
Steamboat Valley, and is about ten miles long by six 
wide. It is a natural meadow, and for various pur- 
poses cannot be excelled in the State. The soil is ex- 
cellent in quality, and of great depth. From a very 
early period in the history of Nevada, it has been set- 
tled and cultivated by white men to a considerable ex- 
tent. Having a variety of nutritious grasses, it is well 
adapted for stock-raising. 

Always the winter abode of the Indians, and the 
favorite camping ground of the early travel-worn emi- 
grants, this valley has much historic interest. The 
emigrants of 1846 followed the course of the Truckee 
through this valley ; and near its head-waters there oc- 
curred the ever-memorable Donner tragedy — a tragedy 
which must always be notorious in the annals of hu- 
man horrors. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. I97 

Closely connected with Truckee Valley are two 
oases, called the Big and Little Meadows of the 
Truckee. They lie on the banks of the Truckee 
River, about ten miles below the valley of that name, 
and contain good land. Further down the same river 
are the rich bottom lands of Pyramid Lake. 

The lake and the adjoining lands have been set 
apart as a reservation for the use of the Pah-Ute In- 
dians, this being the ancient head-quarters and present 
home of that tribe. 

LONG VALLEY. 

This valley is sixteen miles north of Truckee Valley. 
It contains a considerable amount of land adapted for 
tillage, and its mild climate, excellent water, and nutri- 
tious grass render it peculiarly suited for stock-raising 
purposes. 

HONEY LAKE VALLEY. 

About sixteen miles north of Long Valley, partly in 
Nevada, and partly in California, lies the charming 
little valley surrounding Honey Lake. Not only is all 
its arable land taken up, it is fenced in and improved — 
the original settlers claiming 640 acres each. Many 
of the farmers own thousands of head of stock, which 
here thrive in the open pastures all the year round. 
Large quantities of butter and cheese are made in this 
valley. 



198 NEVADA, 

SURPRISE VALLEY. 

Surprise Valley is about twenty miles north of 
Honey Lake Valley, and is one of the most fertile in 
the State. It contains many well improved farms, and 
is noted for its luxuriant grasses and advantages for 
stock-raising. This valley was settled in 1862, and is 
now in a flourishing condition. The principal occu- 
pation of its settlers is stock-raising, though there are 
portions of it under cultivation. It is about eleven 
miles long by four wide. 

HUMBOLDT VALLEY. 

Humboldt Valley is, by far, the largest in Nevada. 
It runs through nearly the whole width of the State, 
from east to west, and is about 300 miles long. This 
valley, though not so productive as some of the other 
valleys in the State, is well adapted for grazing pur- 
poses, to which it is almost entirely devoted. In less 
than ten years, grains of all kinds will be grown on 
the banks of the Humboldt River, and extensive 
orchards will cover its sandy hills. 

PARADISE VALLEY. 

This valley well deserves its name. Lying in Hum- 
boldt County, and extending in a northerly direction, 
it is enclosed by two ranges of mountains — the Santa 
Rosa on the west, and the Hot Spring on the east. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 1 99 

It is watered by the Little Humboldt and other 
streams, and contains 230,000 acres. Fifty thousand 
of these are swamp and overflowed lands — the rest are 
suited for agriculture. Wheat and barley thrive here. 
Irrigation is generally resorted to, though some years 
it is not necessary. Many of the farms in this valley 
are well improved, and, as a whole, it is not second to 
any other valley in the State. 

PINE VALLEY. 

Pine Valley lies about ten miles south of Carlin, 
and has a plentiful supply of good water. It is about 
forty miles long and three wide, and is well settled. 

RUBY VALLEY. 

This valley, like the one just described, has good 
soil, plenty of water, and a number of fine farms. It 
forms part of Elko County, and lies just east of the 
Ruby Mountains. 

MUDDY VALLEY. 

Muddy Valley lies in the extreme south of Nevada, 
in Lincoln County, and forms part of the Colorado 
Basin. It contains thousands of acres of good land, 
which, however, needs irrigation for the production of 
good crops. The supply of water is unfortunately ih- 
adequate for the wants of the entire valley, there being 
only sufficient for about five thousand acres. 



200 NEVADA, 

There are also about five thousand acres of swamp 
lands in the valley, which might easily be reclaimed by 
the usual method of drains. A lars^e tract of land has 
been cultivated by the Mormons, and several hundred 
acres finely improved, at the different settlements of 
St. Thomas, West Point, Overton, and St. Joseph. 

At St. Thomas alone, two hundred thousand shade 
trees, consisting of silver maple, locust, cottonwood, 
willow, and osage orange, were planted. The fruit 
trees embrace nearly every variety known in both tem- 
perate and tropical climates. Growing here side by 
side are seen the olive and die plum, orange and apple, 
lemon and peach, fig and apricot, pomegranate and 
pear, walnut and pepper. Grapes also grow to perfec- 
tion. The vineyards here produce as perfectly ripened 
and delicious fruit as the most favored localities in 
California or France. 

Cotton and sorghum were cultivated here, too, quite 
extensively, one acre of land yielding as much as a 
thousand pounds of cotton. Melons, squashes, and 
beans also grow abundantly, as well as corn and all the 
smaller grains. Some of the hardier vegetables, such 
as potatoes, do not grow so well. 

OTHER VALLEYS. 

Besides the valleys already described, there are other 
valleys in the State. Not having space to give a de- 
scription of each, we include the remainder in this 
article : 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 20I 

Pahranegat Valley, about 20,000 acres of arable 
land. The soil is good and the climate mild. 

Meadow Valley has a similar area, and equally good 
soil and climate. It contains many excellent farms. 

Los Vegas Valley, in the Colorado Basin, is about 
ninety miles long by thirty wide. It is fertile, and 
partly settled. 

Misquit, Ash, Rose, Spring, and Dry Valleys differ 
in size, but resemble each other in having good soil 
and climate. The same may be said of Steptoe, 
Spring and White River Valleys, in White Pine 
County. 

The springs and streams in these valleys afford 
water enough for the irrigation of large tracts of land. 



^Ivei^^. 



Perhaps no other part of the earth's surface is as 
destitute of rivers as Nevada. Four hundred and 
twenty miles long, and three hundred and sixty miles 
broad, she has not a navigable river within her bor- 
ders. And the few streams which she does possess 
would not, in most countries, be called rivers at all. 
The few streams, which her early settlers or explorers 
were pleased to dignify with the name of rivers, are 



202 NEVADA, 

generally shallow, and have rapid currents ; and, so 
far as known, they are not adorned with either cata- 
ract or cascade. But, instead of generalizing, we will 
describe each in detail. 

HUMBOLDT RIVER. 

The Humboldt is the lonsrest and lars^est river in 
Nevada. Its length is about 320 miles ; its width is 
from thirty to forty feet, and in average depth it can- 
not be more than forty inches. Falling only 503 feet 
in about 250 miles, its current is not very rapid, while 
at ordinary seasons of the year it is fordable almost 
anywhere along its course. It rises in the East Hum- 
boldt Mountains, and following a very tortuous, but 
generally southwestern course, its waters are at last 
absorbed in what is called the "Sink of the Hum- 
boldt." It has several tributaries, of which the largest 
is called the Little Humboldt. This rises in the el- 
evated plateau which divides the Great Basin from the 
sources of the Columbia River. Near its source the 
waters of the Humboldt are pure and sweet ; but 
along its course they acquire impurities, and ulti- 
mately become strongly impregnated with alkali. It 
derives its name from the celebrated author of the 
" Cosmos," and has been of great service not only in 
fertilizinor the lowlands alonor its banks, but in cuttino^ 
a road for the early explorers, in supplying water and 
feed for weary emigrant trains, and, lastly, by prepar- 
ing a track for the iron horse, who now snorts along 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 2O3 

its tortuous course for over 300 miles. Whether the 
waters now sinking idly into the desert be eve-r used 
to irrigate and make productive the adjacent country 
remains to be seen ; but the fact is indisputable, be- 
cause already demonstrated, that the soil of Nevada 
needs water only to be made as deserving of the agri- 
culturists attention as any land whatever. 

TRUCKEE RIVER. 

Flowing through a portion of Nevada, but not ris- 
ing in it, the Truckee takes its rise in California, in the 
overflow of the beautiful Lake Tahoe. By far the 
most beautiful and picturesque river which Nevada pos- 
sesses, its cold crystal waters, teeming with mountain 
trout, dash down the woody gorge of the eastern Sierra, 
and at length empty themselves into Pyramid and 
Winnemucca Lakes. Having a very considerable fall, 
a rapid current, a large volume of water, and many eligi- 
ble sites for the erection of machinery, it may yet be 
utilized for manufacturing purposes; while, as an 
easily available means' of irrigating a large area of coun- 
try, at present unproductive, it will always deserve con- 
sideration. 

CARSON RIVER. 

Like the Truckee, this river takes its rise in the 
Sierra Nevada Mountains, a little further south. But, 
unlike that river, it has two forks. These, uniting a 
little above Genoa, are called the east and west forks, 



204 NEVADA, 

on account of the directions from which they flow. 
From the point of junction the enlarged stream dashes, 
a foaming torrent, through Carson Canon, making a 
descent of twelve hundred feet in five miles. Emerg- 
ing from the mountains, its current becomes less rapid, 
and its clear, pure waters acquire an alkaline taste. 
Following at first an easterly course, it empties itself 
into Carson Lake, whence, turning to the northward, it 
issues in a number of devious channels, and is finally 
lost in Carson Sink, an alkaline lagoon, which will be 
found described under the head of " Lakes." Passing 
in its course through the Washoe Mining District, 
Carson River has been largely utilized for milling op- 
erations, some of the largest quartz mills in the State 
having been erected on its banks. The mills now in 
running order along its course, and dependent upon it, 
have a joint capacity for working ore and tailings, 
amounting to 1,399 ^ons per day. 

WALKER RIVER. 

Walker River is another Truckee, that is, although 
it flows through a part of Nevada, and is absorbed 
there, it rises in the snow-clad Sierras of California. 
Having: its source in two or three convero-ingr streams 
which rise in the neighborhood of Mono Lake, it flows 
in a northerly direction for about sixty miles, when, 
curving to the eastward, it doubles back on its former 
course, and ultimately loses itself in Walker Lake in 
Esmeralda County. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 205 

REESE RIVER. 

Reese River, which gives its name to one of the 
earher discovered mining districts of Nevada, has its 
source and end in the center of the State. Rising in 
Nye County, near the southern end of the Toyabe 
Mountains, it flows due north for about 150 miles ; that 
is to say, its channel is that long. Not to qualify the 
statement that Reese River " flows " for 1 50 miles, 
would convey the impression that, everywhere along 
its course, it glides smoothly along, an unbroken 
stream. Such an impression would be a false one ; for 
during the fall and winter it loses a third of its length, 
drying up below its hundredth mile into a series of 
shallow pools, sometimes a considerable distance apart. 
Like most of the rivers of Nevada, it is finally absorbed ; 
but instead of forming a lake, like the other respectable 
rivers already noticed, it dies ingloriously in a tule-fen. 

OWYHEE RIVER. 

Whatever the sources of the rivers thus far described, 
they have, one and all, finished their course in Nevada. 
The one of which we now write is an exception to that 
rule. Rising in the northeast corner of the State, near 
its northern boundary, it passes into Idaho, and becomes 
a tributary of the south fork of Snake River. Some 
rich placer mines have been discovered near its source ; 



206 NEVADA, 

and the country around its head-waters is well adapted 
for grazing purposes. 

Of the small streams usually dignified with the name 
of rivers, such as Quin's River in the north, and the 
Muddy in the south, it is not our purpose to offer any 
detailed account. Suffice it to say, that the Muddy, 
joining the Rio Virgin, adds its little driblet to the 
swelling flood of the great Colorado as it sweeps maj- 
estically round the southeast corner of the State. 



L(H^e^. 



Closely connected with the rivers of Nevada are her 
lakes ; indeed, they are created by them, and their 
very existence, so to speak, depends upon them ; for, 
if the rivers dry up, the lakes soon disappear. 

From what was said about the rivers of the State 
running their courses, and their ending in lakes formed 
by their waters, it will be inferred, and rightly so, that 
the lakes of Nevada are very variable in size, and not 
over attractive in appearance. To this rule of vari- 
ability in size, unattractiveness in appearance, and de- 
pendence upon rivers, there is, however, one notable 
exception, and that is 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 207 

LAKE TAHOE. 

This charming lake, to which Nevada must lay 
claim, even though she does not wholly own it, is 
found just on the southwest corner of the State, about 
one-third of the lake being in Nevada, the rest com- 
ing within the boundary of California. Thirty-five 
miles long and fifteen wide, having a superficial area 
of five hundred and twenty-five square miles, it forms 
a miniature inland sea. Fifteen hundred feet deep, 
ice cold, and of crystalline clearness, its waters teem 
with the most delicious mountain trout; and although 
hundreds of millions of gallons flow off through the 
Truckee every day, the supply is ever kept up by the 
melting of the snow on the surrounding mountains. 
While in a state of calm. Lake Tahoe is serenely 
beautiful ; but during mountain storms its glassy 
bosom is lashed into white-crested billows, which dash 
in fury on its pebbly shores. Its shore line is indented 
with bays and harbors, which present a series of ever- 
changing views to the tourist, and the well wooded 
mountains rising abruptly from its shores add pic- 
turesqueness to the scene. Although Lake Tahoe is 
6,700 feet above the level of the sea, and the mountains 
which surround it are covered with snow for ei^ht 
months out of twelve, its water never freezes, but re- 
mains about the same temperature throughout the 
year. As a place of resort, this beautiful lake, to which 
no description can do justice, is rapidly becoming 



208 NEVADA, 

famous ; and being easily accessible, and provided with 
ample accommodation, it will well repay a visit. 

PYRAMID LAKE. 

Next to Lake Tahoe, Pyramid Lake, which is 
formed by the waters of the Truckee, is the finest in 
Nevada. Lying wholly within the State, and being 
thirty-five miles long by twelve wide, and of consider- 
able depth, it is by far the largest lake which Nevada 
really contains. Its surface is about 4,000 feet above 
the level of the sea, and its waters, which are slightly 
saHne, abound with salmon and mountain trout of large 
size and excellent flavor. It derives its name from a 
pyramid-like rock, which rises near its center to a 
height of 600 feet above its level. Conforming to this 
island rock are the adjacent mountains, many of which 
rise above the lake to a height of 3,000 feet. 

The landscape around the lake is always picturesque 
and beautiful, and occasionally, when its shores are en- 
livened by the Indians, for whose exclusive use the 
region has been set apart, it is quite romantic. 

WINNEMUCCA LAKE. 

Lying parallel to Pyramid Lake, and a little to the 
east of it, is a long, narrow sheet of water which has 
been dignified with the title of Winnemucca Lake. 
It is not a lake in the ordinary acceptation of the term, 
as it does not exist all the year round. Indeed, it is 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 2O9 

only in the wet season that it exists at all; and then it 
is caused by the overflowing of Pyramid Lake, which, 
at its southern end, overflows the low neck of land 
which separates it from Winnemucca Lake. 

walker's lake. 

Exactly in a straight line with Pyramid Lake, though 
about a hundred miles to the southeast of it, is Walker's 
Lake, a body of water of very similar shape and dimen- 
sions, formed by Walker's River. Walker's Lake, how- 
ever, is the smaller of the two, for although its length be 
the same, (about thirty-five miles) it is only seven miles 
wide. Like Pyramid Lake, its waters are stocked with 
fish, but they are of an inferior quality. Its shores, 
too, are flanked by high mountains, but as the sur- 
rounding country is arid and uninviting, the landscape 
has not the picturesqueness which is so noticeable 
around Pyramid Lake. 

CARSON LAKE. 

Unlike the lakes thus far described, which were all 
oblong in shape, Carson Lake is circular in form. Its 
diameter is about twelve miles, and its depth is not 
more than fifty or sixty feet at the most. Its shores 
are low and flat, and hence, instead of gettrng deeper 
when an unusually large body of water is poured into 
it, it only becomes larger. Suckers, or a scarcely more 
palatable kind of fish, are all of life its somewhat alka- 
14 



2IO NEVADA, 

line waters contain. It is formed by the waters of the 
Carson River, which, passing through it, escape into a 
larger sheet of water known as the Carson Sink, where 
the overflowings of Carson and Humboldt Lakes are 
absorbed. 

HUMBOLDT LAKE. 

This lake, as our readers will surmise, is caused by 
the waters of the Humboldt River, which here find an 
opening into a hollow sufficiently large to receive them. 
The size of this lake varies at different seasons of the 
year. If seen during the rains, or immediately after 
them, it will be found about fifteen miles long by nearly, 
ten broad ; but if visited during the summer it will be 
very much smaller. More brackish than those of any 
of the other lakes described, the waters of Humboldt 
Lake contain no fish fit for the table, and they are 
themselves quite unfit for culinary purposes. 

Like Carson Lake, Humboldt Lake has an outlet at 
its southern end, which carries its surplus waters into 
the common receptacle known as the Humboldt and 
Carson Sink, a large sheet of strongly alkaline water, 
which is here absorbed. This " sink," so called, never 
dries wholly up, although absorption and evaporation 
are always rapidly in progress. Its shores, which are 
low and flat, are frequented by flocks of wild birds, 
which live on its worthless fish. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 211 



UPPER AND LOWER LAKES. 



Besides the lakes which we have described, there 
are scattered here and there over the surface of Ne- 
vada a number of shallow sheets of water, of various 
sizes and shapes — large after the rains, but dry, or 
nearly so, during the summer — which, in accordance 
with the custom that makes every creek a river, have 
been magnified into lakes. Lakes they are not, how- 
ever, and so we shall not make lakes of them. 

MUD LAKES. 

Less in size than these so-called lakes, there are also 
a number of shallow pools, sometimes called " mud 
lakes." Frequently quite large during the rains, and 
for a short while after them, they generally become 
quite dry in summer ; and as their waters are always 
strongly impregnated with alkali, they leave a thick 
deposit, which, glittering in large, white sheets over 
the hollows formerly occupied by the " lakes," procures 
for them, in their dry state, the name of "'alkaline JlatsT 



2 12 NEVADA. 



¥l:\ei'ii|h;l hi\cl ^iqei'al ^pi4r|g^. 



STEAMBOAT SPRINGS. 

As these springs form one of the greatest natural 
curiosities in the country, we may be expected to give 
a somewhat detailed description of their appearance 
and properties, more especially as they are fast becom- 
ing the resort of tourists and invalids. They are situ- 
ated near the head of an irregular valley, extending 
north to the Truckee Meadows, a distance of eight 
miles. Before reachino; them, the traveler is notified 
of their locality by little wreaths of steam, seen while 
yet half a mile off, and sometimes to a much greater 
distance. After approaching quite near, a gurgling 
and hissing sound is heard, somewhat resembling the 
boiler of a steamboat. This noise is said to have been 
much louder at a former day, being accompanied with 
an additional sound like the pounding of an engine ; 
hence the name these springs now bear. 

At that period, it is also claimed, the chemical action 
of this strange laboratory of nature was much more 
violent than at present. However this may be, the 
phenomena, even now, are sufficiently curious to inter- 
est the most stolid, and puzzle the scientific beholder. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 2!3 

These noises issue from a rocky mound formed of in- 
crustations, about a quarter of a mile long and six 
hundred feet wide, having an elevation of fifty or sixty 
feet above the valley. 

Running lengthwise of this mound are a number of 
fissures about a foot wide, but having edges so uneven 
that one can see, or run a stick down into them only a 
few feet. Gurgling up through these openings with a 
rumbling sound, and at short intervals, come gushes of 
hot water, which, remaining even with the top for a 
moment, sometimes overflowing a little, again subside, 
leaving the fissure again dark and empty. At other 
points the water keeps even with the surface, boiling 
fiercely, while at a few places it leaps up two or three feet 
above the surface, the whole, while in action, sending 
off columns of steam. The air about smells of sul- 
phur, though this mineral does not appear to be pres- 
ent in the water. 

An analysis of the water, made by Dr. Lanszweert, 
showed it to contain the following constituent salts in 
various proportions: soda, lime, silica, chloride of 
sodium and magnesium, and a small residuum of veg- 
etable matter. Great medicinal virtues are claimed for 
this water, and that it possesses marked curative prop- 
erties in cases of rheumatism, cutaneous diseases, etc. 

SMOKY VALLEY HOT SPRINGS. 

They are a group of circular-shaped pools, from one 
to thirty feet in diameter, on a slight elevation, formed 



214 NEVADA, 

by the deposit from their waters, on the edge of the 
wash from the hills ; they vary in temperature from 
that of the air to the boiling point ; their supply of 
water but little more than compensates for the evapora- 
tion of the air, and streams run from them but for a 
short distance. The most interesting of the group is 
one shaped like a bowl, about three feet in diameter, 
and as many deep, from the center of which the steam 
issues with such force as to throw up, the water in a 
little jet, a foot or more above the surface of the pool. 
These springs are used both for bathing and cooking 
purposes ; their mineral character has not yet been 
determined. 

Carey's warm spring. 

Carey's Warm Spring, near Carson City, is the 
most remarkable and worthy of notice, both because 
of the volume of water flowing from it, and its con- 
venience to the public. The spring, in its native state 
a deep pool, has been walled up and covered with a 
stone house one hundred and sixty feet long, and thirty- 
eight wide. The depth of water now varies from three 
to five feet, and being about the temperature of the 
body, and very soft and limpid, affords one of the most 
healthful and luxurious baths in the world. 

Along the western margin of the Carson Valley 
there are several warm springs which are highly es- 
teemed for the medicinal property of their waters. At 
one of these, a mile and a half south of Genoa, a hotel 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 215 

has been erected for the accommodation of guests, and 
those persons afflicted with rheumatism, scrofula, and 
other cutaneous diseases, who come here to be bene- 
fited by bathing in these mineral waters. This hotel 
is owned by Mr. David Walley, and is one of the finest 
buildings for hotel purposes in the State. Hundreds 
of patients visit this resort annually, all of whom are 
benefited by bathing in these miraculous springs. 

THE ELKO HOT SPRINGS. 

These celebrated hot springs are within a mile of 
the town of Elko, Elko County. Invalids from the 
surrounding country visit them for their health, and 
they are a great attraction for tourists. Nevada is 
rich in mineral waters. They extend from Oregon to 
Mexico, and from the edge of the Pacific to the Rocky 
Mountains. Surprise Valley, partly in the State and 
partly in California, has hundreds of hot and cold sa- 
line and chalybeate and sulphur springs. The mud 
volcanoes of the Colorado Desert, and a great many 
hot springs, are samples of what are to be found in the 
southern part of the State. Many, no doubt, of the 
numerous mineral springs of the State will become in 
time valuable to their proprietors, as well as valuable 
for the healing of different diseases. 

COLD SPRINGS. 

Some of the cold springs of Nevada are scarcely less 
remarkable, because of their size, depth, or the great 



2l6 NEVADA, 

volume of water they discharge, than the hot springs 
just described. The most noted of these occur in the 
central and eastern part of the State. Along the west- 
ern side of Smoky Valley are a number of pools, vary- 
ing in diameter from twenty to eighty feet, some of 
them being at least loo feet deep — so deep, in fact, 
that the water, which is soft and clear as crystal, has a 
dark blue appearance. Several of these are filled with 
small fish, and send off a large stream qf water. In the 
second tier of the valleys east of the Smoky occurs an- 
other group of these springs, also circular in form, very 
deep, and full of clear, cold water, but having no appar- 
ent outlets or inlets. These, also, swarm with small 
fish, the number of which leads to the belief that there 
must be more room for them beneath the turf-like sod 
by which they are surrounded. Some of the springs 
on the Upper Humboldt send off creeks fifteen feet 
wide and over a foot deep, which run with a rapid 
current. The number of springs contained in Thous- 
and Spring Valley, on the Upper Humboldt, is suffi- 
ciently indicated by its name. Many of these are dis- 
tinguished for their size and the excellence of their 
water. 



LAND LAAVS. 



AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE SELECTION AND SALE OF 
LANDS THAT HAVE BEEN.OR MAY HEREAFTER BE GRANTED 
BY THE UNITED STATES TO THE STATE OF NEVADA. 

Section i. For the purpose of selecting and dis- 
posing of the lands that have been or may hereafter 
be granted by the United States to the State of Ne- 
vada, including the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections, 
and those selected in lieu thereof, in accordance with 
the terms and conditions of the several grants of land 
by the United States to the State of Nevada, a State 
Land Office is hereby created, of which the Surveyor- 
General shall be and is hereby made ex-officio Land 
Register. He shall, as such Land Register, be required 
to give bonds, in the sum of ten thousand dollars, for 
the faithful performance of his duties ; which bonds 
shall be approved by the Governor, and filed in the 
office of the Secretary of State. The Land Register 
shall keep his office at the seat of government, and 
the same shall be kept open, on all legal days, between 
the hours of lo o'clock a. m. and 4 o'clock p. m. for the 
transaction of business. 



2 I 8 • NEVADA, 

Sec. 2. The Register shall procure one copy of each 
township plat of the public surveys now approved, or that 
may hereafter be approved, by the proper United States 
authorities, unless the same shall have been previously 
obtained : Provided, that the cost of the same shall not 
exceed eight dollars each, and shall be made upon 
drawing paper. He shall keep a record of all applica- 
tions, and of all lands which have been, or may here- 
after be, approved to the State, and of all lands which 
have been sold by the State, which, together with all 
plats, papers, and documents relating to the business 
of his office, shall be open to public inspection, during 
office hours, without fee therefor. 

Sec. 3. The Register shall furnish, within a reason- 
able time, a copy of the plats of townships, within any 
county, to the County Surveyor of such county, to be 
used by him in furnishing such information as the 
Register may require of him concerning the lands 
within such townships ; and all lands sold by the State 
shall be reported by the Register to the County Sur- 
veyor of the county in which such lands are situated, 
and said Surveyor shall immediately mark the same 
upon the township plat in his office, in accordance with 
the instructions of the Register, and said County Sur- 
veyor shall keep such plats subject to the inspection of 
all persons interested in examining the same, on all 
legal days during office hours. Whenever a County 
Surveyor shall have knowledge of any tract or tracts 
of land within his county, subject to selection by the 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 219 

State, and which for any cause may appear to him to 
of special value to the State, he shall report the same 
to the Register ; describing such location, with refer- 
ence to the government surveys, by legal subdivisions, 
and he shall state fully and definitely, in such report, 
his reasons for considering such tract or tracts of spec- 
ial value. 

Sec. 4. The minimum price of all lands embraced 
in this Act, not included within the twenty miles Cen- 
tral Pacific Railroad limit, is hereby fixed at one and 
one-fourth dollars per acre, in currency ; and the mini- 
mum price of all lands within said twenty miles limit 
is hereby fixed at two and one-half dollars per acre, in 
currency. But the Board of Regents of this State 
shall have power to fix a higher price per acre upon 
any of said lands not settled upon or applied for, by 
individuals, prior to the date of such higher price hav- 
ing been fixed. 

Sec. 5. All land to which the State has acquired 
title, except tliose specified in section seven of this Act, 
when in the opinion of the Board of Regents it shall be 
advisable for the interests of the State, shall be adver- 
tised by the Register as being subject to sale at the 
minimum price, unless a higher price shall have been 
fixed thereupon by said Board, and if a higher price 
shall have been fixed, then at such higher price. And 
such notice shall specify that such land may be pur- 
chased, at the price stated, at any time within six months 
after the date of such notice ; and if not purchased 



2 20 NEVADA, 

within such specified time, the Board of Regents may 
reduce the price : Provided, they do not reduce it below 
minimum price, and the Register thereupon shall re- 
advertise the same at such reduced price. 

Sec. 6. All applications to purchase land shall be 
made in writing, to the Land Register, and shall be 
signed by the applicant, his or her agent, and shall des- 
ignate, in conformity with the United States survey, 
the tracts of land applied for, number of acres, price 
per acre, and amount necessary to purchase such land, 
and the section of this Act under which the applicant 
wishes to purchase; also, residence, postoffice address, 
and county in which such land is located. 

Sec. 7. Upon the application of any person to pur- 
chase land, not previously selected by the State, the 
Land Register shall certify to the State Controller that 
such person is entitled to apply for the land, describ- 
ing the same as in the application, which shall accom- 
pany said certificate, and such certificate shall state the 
amount necessary to purchase said land ; the Controller 
shall thereupon issue his order, directing the State 
Treasurer to receive from such applicant said amount, 
placing the same into the State School Fund, and upon 
such payment being made, the Treasurer shall issue 
his receipts in duplicate, describing the land applied for, 
and he shall at the same time enter in his abstract of 
applications the name or names of the person or per- 
sons so applying, number, description of land, date of 
receipts, and amount paid by the applicant. Upon the 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 22 1 

return of the application with the Treasurer's receipt 
to the Land Office, the Register shall file the same, 
which shall complete such application. Whenever 
purchase can be completed, in whole or in part, upon 
land thus applied for, the Land Register shall certify 
the same to the Controller and Treasurer each, and 
shall at once proceed to perfect the sale. Upon thus 
certifying to the Treasurer, the Register shall surren- 
der the Treasurers receipt therewith issued on pay- 
ment made by applicant ; the duplicate receipt becom- 
ing null and void on the completion of such purchase. 
Should the Controller, upon the receipt of such cer- 
tificate, find that any payment had been wrongfully ap- 
portioned, he shall issue his order directing the Treas- 
urer to transfer such amount to its proper fund. If, 
from the non-approval of the land to the State, or other 
cause, the contemplated sale cannot be perfected in 
whole or in part, then, upon the demand of the appli- 
cant, the Land Register shall certify to the Controller 
that such applicant is entitled to the amount paid by 
him or her, from the non-approval or other cause, as 
the case may be, and the Controller shall draw his 
warrant upon the State School Fund for the amount 
due such applicant, and the same shall be paid by the 
Treasurer. The Land Register shall, at the same time, 
certify in like manner to the State Treasurer of the 
non-approval of such land, returning the receipt filed 
in his office by such applicant ; the duplicate receipt be- 
coming null and void. Upon the application of any per- 



2 22 NEVADA. 

soil for the purchase of land not previously selected by 
the State, when such application is accompanied by the 
Treasurer's receipt, the Land Register shall serve the 
Surveyor of the county in which such land is situated 
with a written notice of such application to purchase, 
and said Surveyor shall post the same conspicuously 
in his office for the period of sixty days from the date 
thereof. 

Sec. 8. Upon the application of any person or 
persons for the purchase of land after the State has 
obtained title thereto, should such person or persons 
be entitled to purchase, the Land Register shall certify 
the same to the Controller; said certificate shall be 
accompanied by such application, as provided in sec- 
tion seven of this Act; whereupon the Controller 
shall issue his order directing the Treasurer to receive 
the amount necessary to purchase such land, placing 
the same in the fund specified in the order. Upon 
payment being made by applicant, the Treasurer shall 
issue his receipt for the same, and on return of said 
application, with the receipt, to the State Land Office, 
the Register shall thereupon file the same and perfect 
such sale. 

Sec. 9. In addition to the mode and manner of 
sale of the lands belonging to the State, the State 
Register is hereby further empowered to sell and dis- 
pose of any agricultural or grazing lands, payable in 
installments, as hereinafter specified ; that is to say, 
with any party or parties wishing to purchase lands 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 223 

under the provisions of this section, and who shall 
have made proper application therefor, and duly estab- 
lished his or her or their right to purchase under the 
provisions of this Act, the State Register is hereby 
authorized and required to enter into contract to sell 
such lands, at such price as the same may be valued 
for the time being by the proper authority, payable as 
follows, to wit : one-fifth of the amount to be paid at 
the time of contract, and the balance in nine equal 
annual installments, with interest at the rate of ten per 
centum per annum, payable annually upon all deferred 
installments : Provided^ the purchaser, his or her heirs 
or assigns, may at any time prior to the maturity of 
such contract make full payment. All such contracts 
shall be entered into in writing with the party or par- 
ties so purchasing, in which the conditions shall be 
distinctly expressed that, upon failure to pay the prin- 
cipal and interest thereon as stipulated, the said land 
shall immediately and unconditionally revert to the 
State, and be thereafter subject to sale in the same 
manner and under the same conditions as though no 
such prior contract and sale had been made. It shall 
be the duty of the Register to certify each sale and the 
terms thereof to the State Treasurer, and the Register 
shall at the same time certify to the Controller the 
amount necessary for the first payment and for each 
succeeding payment until full payment shall have been 
made ; and the Controller, upon the receipt of each 
such certificate, shall issue his order to the Treasurer 



2 24 NEVADA, 

as in section seven of this Act ; and upon payment 
being made by the applicant of the amount specified 
in the order, the Treasurer shall issue his receipts in 
duplicate, and when full payment shall have been 
made, patents shall issue to the purchaser, his or her 
heirs or assigns, as provided for in section thirteen of 
this Act : Provided, that no timbered land shall be 
sold, unless the whole purchase price shall be paid at 
the time of application. 

Sec. io. The holder of any unlocated land warrant 
of this State, heretofore issued, shall have the right to 
use the same in payment for lands which he or she 
may desire to purchase from the State ; and any per- 
son holding any of said paid warrants for one hundred 
and sixty acres or less, at the rate of two and one-half 
dollars per acre, shall be allowed to surrender the same 
to the State Treasurer, in full payment for double the 
number of acres expressed therein, of land valued at 
one and one-fourth dollars per acre, and upon the sur- 
render of such land warrant to the Controller by the 
Treasurer, properly indorsed, the Controller shall draw 
his warrant upon the State School Fund, in favor of 
the State Treasurer, for the amount of said land war- 
rant. 

Sec. II. The State Treasurer shall render to the 
State Controller a true and correct statement of the 
amount of special deposits on hand, made by appli- 
cants for the purchase of State lands, and the Con- 
troller shall thereupon order the same to be trans- 



THE LAND OF 'SILVER. 225 

ferred from the Special Deposit Account to the State 
School Fund. All moneys hereafter paid into the 
Treasury on land shall be paid in on an order from the 
Controller, and all moneys refunded to applicants shall 
be drawn out upon a warrant issued by the Controller 
upon the Treasurer, as provided in section seven of 
this Act. All purchases to be completed or amounts 
to be refunded upon Special Deposit receipts issued 
by E. Rhoades, defaulting Treasurer, and still out- 
standing, shall be disposed of in the following manner: 
whenever purchase can be completed, in part or in 
whole, upon land thus applied for, the Land Register 
shall perfect such sale, surrendering to the Controller 
the Treasurer's receipts issued by said E. Rhoades, with 
his certificate of the completion of such sale, and the 
Controller shall receive and file the same in his office 
as vouchers. The Register shall at the same time also 
certify such sale to the Treasurer. And whenever, 
for non-approval of the land to the State, or other 
cause, the contemplated sale cannot be completed, the 
Land Register shall surrender to the Controller said 
Special Deposit receipts, with a certificate that said 
aj^plicant is entitled to the amount paid ; and the Con- 
troller shall thereupon file such receipts and certificate 
in his office as vouchers, drawing his warrant upon the 
proper fund for said amount, and the Treasurer shall 
pay the same. The Land Register shall, at the same 
time, certify the non-approval in like manner to the 
Treasurer. 
15 



2 26 NEVADA, 

Sec. 12. An occupant or party in possession shall 
have a preferred right to purchase not exceeding three 
hundred and twenty acres of land at the minimum 
price, for the period of six months after the date of 
approval to the State of the lands occupied or pos- 
sessed by him or her ; and when two or more persons, 
claiming a preferred right by reason of occupancy or 
possession, apply to purchase the same lands, the 
Register shall certify such applications to the Dis- 
trict Court of the county in which such lands are sit- 
uated, and notify .the contesting applicants thereof. 
The judge or court shall then appoint a commissioner 
in the vicinity of the land so in dispute to take and 
report to such court all the testimony of the parties 
in the case. The contest shall then be tried and de- 
termined as ordinary actions in said court, and, when 
so determined, shall be certified to the Register, who 
shall proceed thereafter with the successful contestant 
in the same manner as if he alone had applied in the 
premises : Provided, that all costs attending such con- 
test shall be paid by the parties litigant, as the court 
or judge may determine : And provided further, that a 
preferred right shall be based upon occupancy or pos- 
session dating prior to any application to purchase the 
land having been filed with the Register. When two 
or more persons, neither claiming a preferred right, 
•apply to purchase the same lands, the first applicant 
shall be allowed to purchase. 

Sec. 13. No person shall be allowed to purchase 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 

more than three hundred and twenty acres of land 
from the State under the provisions of this Act. 

Sec. 14. It is hereby made the duty of the Regis- 
ter to select as portions of the several grants of land 
to this State all lands for which money has been de- 
posited under the provisions of section seven of this 
Act. And whenever he shall have knowledge of any 
tract or tracts of land within the State, which for any 
cause may appear to him to be of special value and 
subject to location by the State, he may select the 
same, and if necessary, by and with the advice and 
consent of the Board of Regents, instruct the County 
Surveyor of the county wherein such land is situated 
to survey such lines and make such examination as 
may serve to indicate the proper location and true 
character and quality of such lands, and said County 
Surveyor shall, without delay, proceed to make such 
survey or examination, and shall report the same to 
the Reo^ister in accordance with such instructions as 
he may have received ; and for such services he shall 
receive such sum as the Board of Regents may allow, 
and for the faithful performance of such service said 
County Surveyor shall be liable upon his official bond. 

Sec. 15. The title of the State to any lands sold 
under the provisions of this act shall be conveyed to 
the purchaser, or his or her heirs or assigns, by patents 
free of charge, in such form as the Attorney-General 
and Register shall jointly prescribe, to be prepared by 
the Register, signed by the Governor, and shall have 



2 28 NEVADA, 

the great seal of the State affixed by the Secretary of 
State, and shall be countersigned by the Register, and 
the Secretary of State and State Register shall keep 
a record of the patents issued. 

Sec. 1 6. The State Register shall be entitled, as 
such Register, to a salary of two thousand six hund- 
red dollars per annum, to be paid quarterly ; and he is 
hereby authorized to appoint a deputy, who shall be 
entitled to a salary of three thousand dollars per an- 
num, to be paid monthly. The Controller of State 
shall, at the end of each month, draw his warrant upon 
the State Treasurer in favor of said deputy for the 
amount of his compensation then due, and the State 
Treasurer shall pay the same out of any money de- 
rived from the sale of lands. 

Sec 17. All funds derived from the sale of lands 
under this Act shall be invested in interest-bearing 
bonds of the State, or of the United States, as re- 
quired by section three of the eleventh article of the 
Constitution of this State. The proceeds of the sale 
of lands donated to this State by Act of Congress of 
July 2d, 1862, shall be invested by the Board of Re- 
gents ; and the proceeds of all other lands herein 
referred to, whenever the sum of five hundred dollars 
shall have been paid into the State School Fund, shall 
be invested as directed by law. 

Sec. 18. All claims and accounts for services or for 
expenses authorized by and necessarily incurred in car- 
rying out any of the provisions of this Act, except the 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 229 

salaries of the Register and his deputy, shall be pre- 
sented to and audited as other claims by the State 
Board of Examiners ; and when any claim shall be 
passed and allowed by said Board, they shall appor- 
tion the same, so payable or chargeable, to the several 
funds derived from the sale of lands as they shall deem 
proper, and so much of the funds received from the 
sale of lands in the several grants as may be necessary 
for the payment of such audited claims, shall be and 
the same is hereby appropriated out of the several 
funds respectively for the payment of such claims, and 
the Controller shall draw his warrant accordingly. The 
Board of Examiners are hereby authorized and directed 
to allow and direct to be paid such sums to the Re- 
ceivers of the United States Land Offices for any offi- 
cial services performed by them in relation to the desig- 
nation of the selected lands upon the books of their 
respective offices, as they may be justly entitled to re- 
ceive under the laws of the United States, or the in- 
structions of the proper department at Washington 
City. 

Sec. 19. An Act entitled "An Act to provide for 
the selection and sale of lands granted by the United 
States to the State of Nevada," approved April 2d, 
1867, and also an Act entitled "An Act to provide 
for the selection and sale of lands granted by the 
United States to the State of Nevada," approved 
March 4th, 1871, and all other acts and parts of acts, 
so far only as in conflict with the provisions of this 



230 NEVADA, 

Act, are hereby repealed : Provided, that such repeal 
shall not divest any parties of any rights heretofore 
acquired under any of said acts referred to. 
Approved March 5th, 1873. 

AN ACT PRESCRIBING THE MODE OF MAINTAINING AND DE- 
FENDING POSSESSORY ACTION ON PUBLIC LANDS IN THIS 
STATE. 

Section i. Any person now legally occupying and 
settled upon, or who may hereafter occupy or settle 
upon, any of the public lands in this State, for the 
purpose of cultivating or grazing the same, may com- 
inence and maintain any action for interference with, 
or injuries done to, his or her possession of said land, 
against any person or persons so interfering with, or 
injuring, such land or possession: Provided, that if 
the lands so occupied and possessed contain mines of 
any of the precious metals, the possession or claim of 
the person or persons occupying the same, for the pur- 
poses aforesaid, shall not preclude the working of such 
mines by any person or persons desiring so to do, as 
fully and unreservedly as they might or could do had 
no possession or claim been made for grazing or agri- 
cultural purposes. 

Sec 2. Every such claim, to entitle the holder to 
maintain any action as aforesaid, shall not contain 
more than one hundred and sixty acres, and the same 
shall be surveyed and marked by metes and bounds, 
so that the boundaries may be readily traced and the 



THE LAND OF SII.VER. 23 1 

extent of such claim easily known ; and no person 
shall be entitled to maintain any such action for the 
possession of, or injury to, any claim, unless he or she 
occupy the same, and shall have complied with the 
provisions of the third and fourth sections of this Act. 

Sec. 3. Any person claiming any of the public 
lands in this State shall have the same surveyed by 
the County Surveyor of the county in which said lands 
are situated, and shall have the plot of such survey, 
duly certified to by said Surveyor, recorded in the 
office of the County Recorder, and shall take and sub- 
scribe his or her affidavit that he or she has taken no 
other claim under this Act, and that, to the best of his 
or her knowledge and belief, the said lands are not 
claimed under any existing title. 

Sec. 4. Within ninety days after the date of said 
record, the party recording is hereby required to im- 
prove the lands thus recorded to the value of two 
hundred dollars, by putting such improvements thereon 
as shall partake of the realty, unless such improve- 
ments shall have been made prior to the application 
for survey and record, according to section third of 
this Act. 

Sec. 5. At any time after the provisions of the 
second, third, and fourth sections of this Act shall 
have been complied with, the party so complying shall 
be permitted to absent himself or herself from such 
claim, without being required to occupy the same, for 
a period of not more than twelve months : Pi'ovided, 



232' NEVADA, 

the person so wishing to absent himself or herself shall 
first pay to the Treasurer of the county in which said 
claim shall be situated the sum of fifteen dollars, in 
gold or silver coin, upon which payment the Treasurer 
shall issue a receipt for the same. At any time withirf 
twelve months after the date thereof, such receipt shall 
be received as prima facie evidence of possession in 
any court having jurisdiction in such cases. Any 
person absenting himself or herself from said claim 
for a longer period than sixty days, without first pay- 
ing the sum provided in this section, shall forever for- 
feit his or her claim to the lands. One-half of the 
amount paid to any County Treasurer, under the pro- 
visions of this section, shall be paid by said Treasurer 
into the general fund of such county, and the balance 
into the State Treasury, whenever making his regular 
settlements with the State Treasurer. The State 
Treasurer shall set apart and retain all moneys received 
from such source as a special fund, which may here- 
after be appropriated by law for the maintenance and 
protection of the insane. 

Sec. 6. On the trial of any such causes, the posses- 
sion or possessory right of the plaintiff shall be con- 
sidered as extending to the boundaries embraced in 
such survey, so as to enable him or her, according to 
section third of this Act, to have and maintain any 
action as aforesaid, without being compelled to prove 
an actual inclosure. 

Sec. 7. All lands in this State shall be deemed and 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 233 

regarded as public lands, until the legal title is known 
to have passed from the government to private indi- 
viduals or parties. 

Sec. 8. Sections ten and thirteen of an Act passed 
by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Nevada, 
entitled " An Act to regulate Surveys and Surveying," 
approved November twenty-ninth, one thousand eight 
hundred and sixty-one, and all other acts or parts of 
acts, so far as the same are inconsistent with or re- 
pugnant to the provisions of this Act, are hereby 
repealed. 

Approved March 9th, 1865. 

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE LOCATION OF LANDS CON- 
TAINING SALT. 

Section i. Any person may locate, claim, and 
hold, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres of the 
public lands within this State containing salt or saline 
matter. 

Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of any person or per- 
sons locating salt lands to have the same surveyed by 
the County Surveyor of the county in which said lands 
are located, within thirty days from the date of location ; 
and the Surveyor shall, within thirty days from the 
completion of said surve3^ make and deliver to the 
party employing him to make the survey, a correct 
description and plat of the lands thus surveyed, and 
the same shall be recorded in the office of the County 
Recorder of said county within thirty days from the 
delivery thereof by the Surveyor. 



234 NEVADA, 

Sec. 3. All locations made prior to the passage of 
this Act upon saline lands are hereby ratified and con- 
firmed to the locators thereof, their heirs and assigns : 
Provided, the parties now holding and occupying 
said lands shall, within sixty days from the passage of 
this Act, have the same surveyed and recorded as pro- 
vided in section two of this Act. 

Sec. 4. All persons claiming and holding saline 
lands under the provisions of this Act shall keep and 
hold actual possession of said lands by occupying the 
same, and whenever said lands are abandoned for a 
period longer than sixty days, the same shall be sub- 
ject to re-location. 

Sec. 5. This Act shall take effect, and be in force, 
from and after its passage. 

Approved February 24th, 1865. 

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE LOCATION AND TAXATION OF 
BORAX AND SODA MINES AND CLAIMS. 

Section i. The ownership of, or claim to, or pos- 
session of or right of possession to, any land in this 
State, containing, and held for the purpose of obtaining 
borax or soda, shall be assessed annually for taxation 
for State and county purposes, at not exceeding five 
dollars per acre. The annual payment of said taxes, 
and the compliance with the provisions of an Act en- 
titled "An Act to provide for the location of lands con- 
taining salt," approved February 24th, 1865, shall be 
held as a recognition on the part of the State of the 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 235 

validit}^ of said ownership of, or claim to, or possession 
of, or right of possession to said lands : Provided, That 
where borax and soda mines and claims are beinor 

o 

worked for borate of soda, borate of lime, boracic 
acid, or carbonate of soda, then the net proceeds 
thereof shall be taxed. In the event that the tax on 
such net proceeds shall equal or exceed in amount 
what would be derived from said mines or claims, tax- 
ing them at five dollars per acre as aforesaid, and 
when the net proceeds are taxed, the ownership of, 
claim to, possession of, or right of possession to, the 
said lands, shall not be taxed. 

Sec. 2. Sections two, three, four, five, six, seven, 
eight, nine, and ten, of an Act entitled " An Act pro- 
viding for the taxation of the net proceeds of mines," 
approved February 28th, 1871, shall be and are hereby 
made applicable as to time and manner of assessing 
and collecting the revenue derived from the net pro- 
ceeds of borax and soda mines and claims. 

Sec. 3. The officers whose duty it is to enforce 
the provisions of an Act providing for the taxation of 
the net proceeds of mines, (referred to in section two 
of this Act) shall enforce the provisions of this Act, 
so far as it relates to the taxation of the net proceeds 
of borax and soda mines and claims, and shall re- 
ceive the same compensation as provided in said act. 

Sec. 4. The State Controller is hereby authorized 
and directed to prepare and furnish the necessary blanks 
and instructions to carry this Act into effect. 

Approved March 7th, 1873. 



THE CITIES OF NEVADA. 



Were we to treat, under this caption, only of those 
towns which have corporate bodies and all the other 
machinery strictly belonging to cities proper, our task 
would be easy and soon done. But we use the word 
" city" in its popular sense, and intend it to include all 
the important centers of population, whether they are 
bodies corporate or not. And in doing this we shall 
be right ; for, as the great Shakspeare has said, — 

" What is the city but the people ? 
True, the people are the cityT 



Vii^gii\ia City. 



Virginia City, the county seat of Storey County, 
and the metropolis of Nevada, owes its existence to 
the discovery and development of the Comstock Lode. 
Immediately after that famous silver vein was dis- 
covered, in 1859, this town was laid out, and named 



230 NEVADA, 

after " Old Virginia " — a sobriquet borne by one of the 
discoverers of the lode. The site thus desis^nated is 
on the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, at an eleva- 
tion of 6,205 ^^^t above the level of the sea. The city 
which thus sprung into life grew rapidly, and at this 
writing has a population of nearly twenty thousand 
inhabitants. It is by far the most important city in 
Nevada, and the main source whence most of the 
towns of the State procure their supplies. Its principal 
streets, which have good buildings of brick and stone, 
from two to four stories high, are graded and filled in 
with waste rock from the mines, and are therefore as 
smooth and solid, in dry weather, as if paved with 
stone. Besides many handsome private residences, 
surrounded by well kept gardens wherever possible, 
the city is adorned with five churches. It has excellent 
schools, both public and private, four well furnished 
libraries, two banks, and two daily papers — one of 
which, the Territorial Enterprise, is not surpassed by 
any inland paper on the Pacific Coast. Damage by 
fire is carefully guarded against, the city fire depart- 
ment having six engine companies, one hook and ladder 
company, and several hose companies. An abundant 
supply of excellent water is provided by the local water 
company, and every night the city is lighted by the 
Virginia Gas Company's pneumatic gas. Everything 
in and around the city speaks of mines and mining. 
The hoisting and pumping engines of the different 
mines are unceasingly at work ; miners are constantly 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 239 

going to and from the mines ; drays laden with bullion 
pass you in the streets ; cars are loading with silver ore 
at the different dumps ; the railroad is conveying ore 
to the several mills ; and, in one way or another, every 
activity has to do with the mining, transportation, or 
reduction of silver ore, or the melting and assaying of 
silver bullion. 

Sufficiently peculiar as is the aspect of affairs just 
described, Virginia Cit}^ has other peculiarities, which 
are still more remarkable. Underneath the city, the 
excavations of the different mines are as large as the 
city itself; this space is kept lighted, night and day, by 
candles ; one-third of the male population is under- 
ground eight hours of the twenty-four ; and there is 
more timber in any one of the mines on the Comstock 
Lode than there is in all the buildings in the city. 

P. S. — Since the above was written, on the 26th of 
October, 1875, the fiery fiend visited Virginia City, and 
three-fourths of the business portion was swept away 
like chaff before the whirlwind. Dwellings, banks, 
halls, three graceful churches, hotels, and costly mills 
were consumed to ashes. So swiftly did the devastating 
element move onward that the inhabitants, having lost 
all else, had only to congratulate themselves that they 
had been able to escape with their lives. But the 
enterprising and energetic citizens of Virginia City 
began immediately to rebuild, even amidst the smoking 
embers of their former buildings. Much has already 
been accomplished, and during the coming summer 
nearly the whole will be rebuilt. 



240 NEVADA, 



dki'^oi} dity. 



Carson City Is the capital of Nevada. It is pic- 
turesquely situated in Eagle Valley, which lies at the 
eastern base of the Sierra Nevada mountains, and, as 
our readers will remember, is surrounded by high hills. 
The city is on the west bank of the Carson River, and 
is laid out on the rectangular plan. The streets are all 
perfectly level, and coincide with the cardinal points of 
the compass. Those devoted to business are eighty 
feet wide, while the cross streets are sixty-five ; most 
of them are adorned with shade trees. Occupying the 
center of the best farming lands in the State, the city 
has a population of about five thousand. It was 
founded in 1858 by Major Ormsby and others, who, 
perceiving the natural advantages of the locality, 
bought the site and laid out the town. In early days 
a good deal of staging was done here, but the railroad 
has since superseded the stage coach, and deprived the 
city of that remunerative business. Being the State 
capital, all the State institutions are located here. 
These consist of the Capitol, the State Prison, the 
Orphan's Home, and the Carson Branch Mint. These 
buildings, which are all well adapted for their several 
uses, are built of native sandstone, quarried by the 
prisoners from an adjacent quarry; the mint, which is 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 24 1 

a model of neatness, is tipped with granite. Besides 
being the State capital, it is also the county seat and 
main business center of Ormsby County, and has 
therefore several fine buildings, both public and 
private. Among these we may specify a large school- 
house, the finest in the State. The city is adorned 
by four churches — Episcopalian, Methodist, Pres- 
byterian, and Catholic — and has six hotels, and one 
daily and weekly paper. 



G(o]i Sin. 



This corporate mining town lies one mile south of 
Virginia City, of which it almost seems to form a part, 
so near do the houses of the two cities approximate. 
Lying only a little lower than its larger neighbor, it 
has an elevation of 6,000 feet. It is built on the side 
of a canon about a mile and a half long, and a quarter 
of a mile wide. On the east, the rear of the town is 
guarded by a series of cone-like hills, and beyond the 
cafion, for half its distance, the front is sheltered by 
high mountains, which rise abruptly to the west. 
Settled early in 1859, it was named and occupied 
before the existence of the great silver lode was 
known ; and its earlier mining operations were cen- 
16 



242 NEVADA. 

tered in what has since been known as Gold Hill 
proper — a " chimney " on the Comstock, containing 
not over eis:ht acres of surface. From this small area, 
an immense amount of gold was taken from the crop- 
pings and loose dirt. Several millions of dollars in 
silver were subsequently taken from the same place. 
Extending its operations beyond that restricted area, 
Gold Hill has now within its municipal limits one-half 
of the great Comstock Lode, and the cafion contains 
the works of some of the most noted silver mines in 
the world. Among those located in Gold Hill may 
be mentioned the Alpha, Bullion, Belcher, Empire, 
Imperial, Yellow Jacket, Crown Point, Overman, etc. 
The present population may be set down as about 7,000. 
Three churches, four public schools, and some excel- 
lent private educational establishments add to the solid 
attractions of the city, which has, also, Masonic and 
Odd Fellows' lodges in active operation. An excel- 
lent paper, the Gold Hill Daily News, is published 
here every evening. As in Virginia City, every pre- 
caution is taken against fire, the city maintaining three 
efficient fire companies. They have no engines, how- 
ever, as the city's unique water-works supply sufficient 
pressure without mechanical aid. This happy result 
is secured by excavating their reservoir out of the 
solid granite in one of the hills behind the town. Al- 
ways containing an ample supply of water, which is 
conducted by five and one-half inch pipes to hydrants 
in the city, 200 feet below, the pressure entirely obvi- 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 243 

ates the need of engines. Gold Hill is not distinguished 
for fine residences. Indeed, the only one we saw was 
that of Senator Jones, which manifested a good deal 
of taste, both in grounds and in the construction of 
the dwelling. 



Stl^til\. 



Austin, the county seat of Lander County, is located 
in Percy Canon, near the summit of the Toyabee 
Range, about six miles from Reese River, and within 
a few miles of the geographical center of the State. 
The town was laid out in February, 1863. Prior to 
the advent of the Central Pacific Railroad, which passes 
at a distance of ninety-five miles to the north of the 
town, it commanded all the overland trafific, as the 
overland stage road passed through it; but this position 
is not now of any special advantage. Besides the 
county buildings, court-house, jail, etc., etc., it has a 
fine city hall, and three churches — Episcopal, Metho- 
dist Episcopal, and Roman Catholic ; these buildings 
are all substantially built of brick. It contains also a 
commodious school-house. The Masonic building here 
is jointly owned by the Masons and Odd Fellows ; it 
is quite handsome, and was erected at a cost of $1 7,000. 
Four years ago, the affairs of Austin did not wear an 



244 np:vada, 

encouraging aspect. Some of the houses were out of re- 
pair, and many of them were empty ; the people were dis- 
couraged, and beheved their town was in its decadence. 
An improvement has since taken place, and at this 
writing there is not a more prosperous and cheerful 
town in Nevada. The old houses have all been re- 
paired and renovated, and new ones have been built. 
Many old residents who had left for other towns have 
returned, and great activity pervades every branch of 
business. All the mechanical pursuits usually con- 
nected with such a town are here fully represented ; 
but the principal occupation of the people of Austin 
is silver mining. In this industry they have always 
been energetic and enterprising. Indeed, it is to this 
fact that Austin owes the reputation of being the 
mother of the mining towns of Eastern Nevada. 
From her, as a center, prospectors sallied forth, dis- 
covering mines, organizing districts, and laying out 
towns. White Pine, Battle Mountain, and other im- 
portant places, owe their origin to this fact. 

In the days of the overland stage Austin had a 
population of about 5,000; now it is put down at not" 
quite 2,000. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 245 



f^iodie. 



Pioche is the county seat and chief business center 
of Lincohi County. It is largely dependent upon the 
mines in its vicinity, and has experienced all the fluc- 
tuations inseparable from such towns. Irregularly laid 
out on the side of the hill on which the principal mines 
are located, its streets conform to the course of the 
ravines, more regard being had to an easy grade than 
to uniformity or general direction. As in all hastily 
built towns, the buildings are mostly of one story. 
Prior to 1871, when nearly the whole town was swept 
away by fire, the houses were all built of wood ; but, 
since then, many substantial fire-proof stores have been 
erected. Up to 'j;^, the town was supplied with water 
by wagons which brought it a long distance from the 
valleys below. Within the last two years, however, 
arrangements have been made by which a plentiful sup- 
ply of excellent water is now obtained from springs in 
the mountains. Pioche's population, in 1870, was 
1,144 — vide census returns; it is now estimated at 
5,000. The town is graced by several churches and a 
prosperous public school. It has also a daily paper — the 
Record. It is situated about 230 miles south of Toano, 
a station on the Central Pacific Railroad, from which 
its main supplies are drawn. Pioche is connected with 



246 NEVADA, 

the rest of the world by two telegraph lines, and two 
lines of stages : one connecting with the railroad, at 
Salt Lake City, the other by way of Hamilton. Hav- 
ing open valleys extending north to Toano, and south 
to the Colorado, (180 miles distant) travelers can reach 
Pioche from either place without needing to cross 
mountains. 



5{iu^ekk. 



This young and prosperous town is the county seat 
of Eureka County. In 1869, its site was an unoccupied 
waste, and now it has over four thousand inhabitants. 
It is located near the mouth of a canon which, passing 
to the east of the rich mineral belt which has made the 
district, leads up to an easy pass through the Diamond 
Range of mountains. At the place where the town is 
built the canon is wide enough to afford plenty of level 
ground for a large town. Well supplied with the con- 
veniences obtaining in large cities. Eureka has two 
banks, several good hotels, and a daily paper, estab- 
lished in 1872. It is supplied with water conveyed in 
pipes from McCoy's water-works, which utilize the 
springs arising in the canon, above the town. Pre- 
eminently a smelting camp. Eureka looks like a manu- 
facturing town in the coal regions of Pennsylvania. Its 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 247 

furnaces give out dense clouds of black smoke, redo- 
lent with the fumes of lead, arsenic, and other volatile 
elements. Constantly rolling over the town, these 
clouds deposit large quantities of soot, scales, and 
black dust, which, give it a somewhat somber aspect; 
but beneath this are real prosperity and justly sanguine 
expectations of a bright future. 



^n 



w. 



Like most of the important towns of Nevada, Elko 
is a county seat— that of Elko County ; but, unlike 
most of them, it does not owe its existence to mines 
or mining. It is pre-eminently a creation of the Cen- 
tral Pacific Railroad, having been entirely in a state of 
nature prior to the construction of that line. On the 
ist of January, 1869, four canvas tents constituted the 
entire town ; but at this writing it contains the State 
University, three churches, a handsome court-house, 
a bank, and all the appliances needful for a large city. 
The town is pleasantly situated on the north bank of 
the Humboldt, in the center of a rich farming and 
mining region, and is the depot for an extensive range 
of country. Being the distributing point of a large 
quantity of freight, the railroad company have here 



248 NEVADA, 

a number of commodious warehouses for the recep- 
tion and distribution of goods going to or coming from 
the surrounding country. Elko is a busy, prosperous 
place, and will, doubtless, benefit largely by the devel- 
opment of the Owyhee placer mines. 



Reno is neither a mining town nor a county seat, 
yet it deserves to be noticed among the important 
towns of Nevada. Bisected by the beautiful Truckee 
River, it is favorably situated at the junction of the 
Central Pacific and the Virginia and Truckee Rail- 
roads, a few miles from the western boundary of the 
State. Called into being, like Elko, by the Central 
Pacific Railroad, and situated in Washoe County, it 
was, for a while, the point from which passengers and 
freight were forwarded to Virginia City and her satel- 
lites. Deprived of this lucrative business by the Vir- 
ginia and Truckee Railroad, it still performs the same 
offices for Honey Lake, Susanville, and other points 
lying to the north. Although not a mining town in 
the restricted sense of that term, mining operations in 
gold, silver, and copper are carried on in its vicinity to 
a considerable extent. Extensive forests of timber and 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 249 

several saw-mills create a good deal of business ; and, 
as the machine shops and warehouses of both railroad 
companies are located here, Reno is quite a busy little 
place. It has four churches, two newspapers, several 
hotels, and a population of about fifteen hundred. 



8elrqor\t. 



In the town of Belmont we have another county 
seat — that of Nye County. Built up by the discovery 
and development of the mines in the district of the 
same name, it reached its zenith in 1868, when it be- 
came the most flourishing town in Eastern Nevada. 
A newspaper, hotels, assay offices, and banking and 
'Other institutions obtaining in well-to-do towns, did a 
paying business ; but the failure of the Combination 
Company to make a success of their undertaking, to- 
gether with the discovery of the immensely rich mines 
of White Pine, almost denuded Belmont of its inhab- 
itants. During the last three years, however, its star 
is again in the ascendant, and at the present writing 
Belmont bids fair soon to take its former rank among 
the towns of Eastern Nevada. Its population is about 
fifteen hundred. 



250 NEVADA, 



Wii]r(erqtiddk 



What is now comprised under the general name of 
Winnemucca is made up of two distinct towns, both 
bearing the common name, but distinguished as " old " 
and " new." 

The old town lies about 400 yards north of the new 
one, in a hollow on the south bank of the Humboldt. 
It has been eclipsed by the new one, and is now in a 
rather dilapidated condition, consisting of one main 
street, flanked by a few rickety one-story houses, 
and at right angles to the river. The town was laid 
but in 1863, when a good deal of energetic mining 
was done in and around Winnemucca Mountain — a 
conical hill on the north side of the Humboldt, in 
which many silver ledges were found, and which de- 
rives its name from an Indian chief who pointed out 
the deposit to the first prospectors who visited this 
region. For two years mining was continued with un- 
abated vigor ; but after 1865 the ore was too refractory 
to pay the heavy expenses then attending its reduction, 
and so mining was for the time abandoned. The town 
still lived, however, for it had created quite a business 
in " forwarding," and besides it was an important sta- 
tion on the stage road to Idaho. This state of things 
continued till the railroad came, when the old town 
was superseded and the new one called into being. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 25 1 

The new town occupies higher ground than the old 
one, and its main street, following the course of the 
railroad, is at right angles to the old town. Appro- 
priating the business of the old town, which the rail- 
road has largely increased, the new town is a place 
of considerable importance. At present, it has daily 
stages to Paradise Valley, Fort Scott, Boise and Silver 
Cities, Idaho. A railroad is projected to cover the 
same ground, and surveying parties are already in the 
field. A large amount of freight is forwarded from 
Winnemucca to interior points. Being the central 
point between the Truckee and Humboldt divisions 
of the Central Pacific Railroad, a number of that com- 
pany's officers make it their head-quarters, and these, 
together with the men employed in the round house, 
machine shops, etc., swell the number of railroad em- 
ployees living at Winnemucca to about two hundred 
men. 



8ullioi\ville. 



The second place in importance in Lincoln County. 
It is situated at the north end of Meadow Valley. Here 
are located most of the mills for the reduction of the 
ores of Ely District. There is a good and never- 
failing supply of water for all the mills necessary to 



252 NEVADA, 

be erected. There are several stores, hotels, saloons, 
hay yards, blacksmith shops, and private dwellings. It 
is eleven miles from Pioche, with which place it will 
soon be connected by railroad. Like Pioche, its busi- 
ness prospects depend entirely upon the success of the 
mines. 



'i±kir[iltoi\. 



Hamilton, the county seat of White Pine County, is 
in the eastern part of the State, 100 miles south of 
Elko, on the Central Pacific Railroad, with which it 
connects at Elko Station by stage. This once pop- 
ulous town is now fast approaching abandonment. 

The foregoing cities and towns are the leading ones 
in Nevada, and the descriptions which we have given 
of them will enable our readers to form a correct idea 
of what Nevada's cities and towns are, although they 
may not have seen them. Of course, our descrip- 
tions do not embrace every town in the State; for just 
as Nevada has great rivers which are not rivers, and 
lakes which are not lakes, so has she several " cities " 
which are not cities. Without disparagement to these 
aspiring centers, we have to pass them by, not because 
we deem them unworthy of notice, but because our 
space is limited, and, also, because the descriptions 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 253 

already given will afford our readers all the data they 
may need. 

Passing now from the cities of Nevada, we come 
naturally to consider their means of inter-communica- 
tion, viz., railroads. 



RAILROADS. 



Although Nevada is traversed by a number of 
mountain ranges, she is nevertheless well adapted for 
railroads, her valleys being comparatively level, and 
needing but little grading. Several railroads, some of 
them small, it is true, are already in operation in 
different parts of the State, and others are projected. 
Those in operation are great conveniences, as railroads 
are everywhere, and in Nevada they facilitate and 
cheapen the transportation of machinery and supplies, 
and so aid in developing the mineral wealth of the 
State. 

THE CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

Chief among the railroads of Nevada, as, indeed, of 
the whole Pacific Slope, is the Central Pacific. This 
important section of the great overland line, in passing 
from California to Utah, crosses the northern part of 
Nevada. Entering the State on its western side, in 
company with the Truckee River, it pursues a north- 
easterly course to Humboldt Lake, beyond which it 
follows the tortuous course of the Humboldt River 



256 NEVADA, 

as far as Deeth, when it resumes a straight north- 
easterly course, till it passes into Utah. 

In its course it develops a large extent of country, 
formerly little known, and not likely to be settled with- 
out railroad communication with the markets of the 
world. But six years have passed since the Central 
Pacific Railroad was completed, yet in that short time 
towns and settlements have sprung up along its course, 
and mining and agricultural interests have been fos- 
tered within the reach of its influence, so that Nevada 
is in a prosperous condition, and easily accessible to 
those seeking homes, pleasure, or opportunity for 
investment. 

THE VIRGINIA AND TRUCKEE RAILROAD. 

Next to the Central Pacific, the Virginia and Truckee 
Railroad is the most important in Nevada. Connect- 
ing Virginia City, Storey County, (via Carson City, 
Ormsby County) with the Central Pacific Railroad at 
Reno, Washoe County, it has not only directly added 
much assessable property to the counties through which 
it passes, but, indirectly, by giving increased activity to 
all kinds of business, and drawing to the district a 
number of business and laboring men, it has benefited 
the country amenable to its influence to a very large 
extent. The road is fifty-one miles in length, and was 
completed in September, 1872. Twenty-two trains are 
dispatched over this road daily, transporting about 200 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 257 

tons of freight, besides delivering at the various quartz 
mills over 600 tons of ore from the mines in Storey 
Count}^ These mills are mostly located on the bank 
of the Carson River, below the line of the railroad, and 
receive the ore in "chutes." Besides the freight and 
ore already mentioned, this road carries annually about 
1,000,000 cords of wood and 20,000,000 feet of lumber 
for the use of the mines in Storey County; both the 
cord-wood and the lumber are brought from the coun- 
ties of Douglass and Ormsby. 

PIOCHE AND BULLIONVILLE RAILROAD. 

The company owning this railroad was incorporated 
under the laws of Nevada, for the purpose of con- 
structing a railroad from Pioche to Bullionville, a dis- 
tance of twelve miles, both termini being in Lincoln 
County. The company was incorporated in 1872. Its 
capital stock consists of two million dollars, divided 
into 200,000 shares at ten dollars each. The railroad 
was completed in 1873, and has been in active op- 
eration ever since. It is used principally to transport 
ore from the mines to the mills ; but it has also such 
other freight as is necessary for the reduction of the 
ores and the supply of a mining camp. 

EUREKA MILL RAILROAD. 

This is a narrow-gauge road. It is about a mile and 
an eighth in length, and was constructed by the Union 
17 



258 NEVADA, 

Mill Company to transport ore from the Virginia and 
Truckee Railroad to their mill. No locomotives are 
used on this line — the empty cars are pulled by horses, 
the full ones go down the line by their own weight. 

EUREKA AND PALISADE RAILROAD. 

The articles of association for the construction of 
this road were filed on the 19th of November, 1874, 
and set forth the purposes and objects of the company 
as follows : 

To build a narrow-gauge railroad from the Central 
Pacific Railroad, commencing at or near Palisade, on 
said road, and running thence southerly, through the 
counties of Eureka and Elko, to the town of Eureka. 
The road will be about eighty-two miles long, and 
have a capital stock of one million dollars. 

This road has been cons.tructed as far as the " chim- 
neys," a distance of about fifty miles, and is well 
stocked. Already its success as a paying road is well 
assured, and next spring it is expected to be completed 
to Eureka. 

These are all the railroads at present in Nevada; 
others will doubtless be constructed as development 
proceeds. But while Nevada has no more railroads 
than those we have mentioned, she has other appli- 
ances, which, in some respects, serve the same ends, viz : 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 259 

FLUMES FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF LUMBER, ETC. 

Within the last seven years, attention has been di- 
rected to the expense and difficulty of hauling timber, 
lumber, etc, from the forests in the mountains. The 
result of this attention is that V-shaped flames have 
been constructed on trestle-work, for the purpose of 
conveying all kinds of wood cheaply and easily from 
the mountain forests to the open plains. Where water 
is plentiful, as is usually the case, the lumber, cord- 
wood, or whatever it may be, is floated down the flume ; 
when water cannot be had the slope of the flume is 
increased, and gravity carries the wood, etc., down the 
flume. 

These flumes are found to work admirably, not only 
saving much trouble and expense, but utilizing remote 
and inaccessible forests whose high altitudes and pre- 
cipitous slopes preclude every other means of trans- 
portation. About forty miles of fluming are now in 
operation in Nevada. 

Somewhat analogous to the water flumes just de- 
scribed are the 

WATER DITCHES. 

These are for the purpose of conveying water, not 
for transportation purposes, but for motive power, irri- 
gation, and domestic use. A large amount of capital 
has been invested in their construction, and they are 



26o NEVADA. 

many in number and various in size. For mining, 
milling, and agriculture, they are generally indispensa- 
ble, and are largely in favor. 

Closely connected with cities and their means of 
intercommunication, is the subject of manufactures — 
the industries of those cities ; to these we shall now 
briefly turn our attention. 



MANUFACTURES. 



As might be expected from the large preponderance 
of the mining interests in Nevada over every other, 
manufactures in that State have been somewhat 
neglected. But the all-engrossing claims of mining 
are not alone to blame for this. The close proximity 
of the well stocked markets of California, and the ease 
and promptness with which, since the completion of 
the railroad, all needed articles could be obtained, have 
had their effect in retarding the establishment of home 
manufactories. Yet, notwithstanding these and other 
hindrances, the subject of manufactures is now en 
gaging attention in Nevada, and beginnings are being 
made in various departments. 

Among these, perhaps, the first deserving of mention 
are the different foundries and iron works. 



lJi\{oi| Ifor\ Woi'k^. 



This establishment, like most of those we shall 
mention, is located in Virginia City — the chief center 



262 NEVADA, 

of population in Nevada. It is prepared to manufac- 
ture and repair all kinds of mining machinery, imple- 
ments, etc. During 1874, it employed from forty to 
fifty men, and turned out an amount of work aggre- 
gating $200,000. Its furnaces have a capacity of 
fifteen tons per day, and it turns out castings of gray 
iron at six cents per pound; of soft iron at nine cents. 



]B^ultor\ 5^oui\di'y. 



During the past year, this establishment has in- 
creased its capacity one-half, and added new and costly 
appliances to its machinery, such as a steam hammer, 
large lathes, etc., etc. New cupolas have been built, 
and the capacity of the moulding department doubled. 
From eighty to ninety hands have been steadily em- 
ployed, and the work done aggregates $350,000 per 
annum. 



G^oM Sill ^omidi^y. 



As its name imports, this establishment is at Gold 
Hill, one mile south of Virginia City. It has been in 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 263 

operation since 1862, and, like the others already de- 
scribed, has facilities for turning out all kinds of iron 
work. It employs about sixty men. 

In connection with these facts about the foundries 
of Nevada, it may be useful to add that coal costs 
forty-six dollars per ton, and pig iron from seventy-two 
to eighty-seven dollars per ton, delivered at the found- 
ries. Besides these foundries, there are several boiler- 
makers' shops in the same locality. 



Jeweli^y ki\d ^ilyeiSvki^e. 



It is eminently proper that in the " Land of Silver ' 
there should be an establishment for convertinor 
silver and gold into articles for the household and the 
person. Such an establishment is owned by Mr. Fred- 
erick, of Virginia City, who has recently fitted up a 
large workshop with every needed appliance necessary 
for the manufacture of silverware of all kinds. 



f{edudtioi\ Wotk^. 



Ores are smelted in Nevada as well as anywhere in 
the world. The loss does not exceed two per cent. The 



264 NEVADA, 

expense, however, is very great. One item alone — 
charcoal — costs from twenty-eight to thirty-three cents 
per bushel, and about thirty-five bushels are required 
for the smelting of every ton of ore. From six to 
eight tons of ore produce one ton of bullion, the cost 
of which, as reckoned by the Eureka Consolidated 
Company, is as follows : 

PER TON. 

Cost of extracting ores in 187 1 $5 52 

Cost of smelting ores in 1 87 1 ' 1 9 60 

Cost of extracting ores in 1872, delivered at 

the furnaces 7 84 

Cost of smelting ores in 1872 18 33^ 



Sofkx. 



The process of manufacturing borax for commerce 
from the salts found in this State is exceedingly simple. 
Large tanks, each of 1,000 gallons' capacity, are ar- 
ranged upon a platform elevated a few feet above 
ground, so that the solution with which they are filled 
may be easily drawn off into other tanks. They are 
open on top, to allow of their being filled with crude 
material and water necessary to dissolve it. These 
tanks are first filled with water, which is heated to the 
boiling point by means of pipes connecting them with 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 265 

the steam boiler. These pipes are so arranged that 
the difference between the density of cold and warm 
water produces a circulation of the water from the 
tank to the boiler, and back again. When sufficiently 
heated, the circulation is stopped, and the tanks filled 
with as much of the crude material as the water will 
dissolve. The opening at the top is then closed, and 
steam jets are turned on into the bottom of the tanks, 
which keeps the material in motion and heated until 
the borates are thoroughly dissolved. It requires about 
two hours to complete this operation. The sand and 
earthy materials are then allowed to settle. The salts 
remaining in the water are drawn off into other tanks, 
each containing 400 gallons. They are then precipi- 
tated and crystallized upon the bottom and sides of the 
tanks. As there are other salts besides those of borax, 
such as sulphate, chloride, and carbonate of soda, and 
some potash salts, the same process is repeated on the 
material thus obtained, which gives, when crystallized 
a second time, the borax of commerce. 



¥^i)i|ei'y. 



We were told, while on a visit to Reno, that an ex- 
tensive tannery is to be established at that place on 
the Truckee River. Such an enterprise as this de- 



266 NEVADA. 

serves encouragement. It will save to the State the 
difference between a raw product and a manufactured 
staple ; it will save transportation both ways ; and it 
will give employment to men, which in turn swells the 
product of every surrounding industry. 



Social and Educational Condition. 



However great the wealth or varied the resources 
of a country may be, its social and educational condi- 
tion must ever be of the first importance to every right- 
thinking person. No matter what the attractions in 
other respects, unless its people are orderly, law-abid- 
ing, and able to offer families seeking homes in their 
midst all the elevating and refining influences of 
churches, schools, etc., etc., it is no country for res- 
pectable people. People who will benefit a State by 
settling in it — and they are the only people that any 
State wants — desire not only the opportunity of mak- 
ing money, but also intercourse with intelligent neigh- 
bors, and facilities for educating and bringing up their 
families in a proper way. In order, therefore, to 
answer the queries which will doubtless suggest them- 
selves to the most of our readers, this chapter is made 
as full as our limited space permits. 



26S NEVADA, 



^dudktioi\. 



The system of public instruction now in operation 
in the State of Nevada was established by the Terri- 
torial Legislature of 1861, and in its principal features> 
as then established, remains unchanged. Its originat- 
ors wisely consulted the most successful systems of 
the older States, and were enabled to lay foundations 
which probably need not be disturbed for years to come. 
Its scope is wide-reaching and beneficent. It aims to 
furnish the child of every citizen in the State an oppor- 
tunity to acquire the elements of an English education. 
To accomplish this, it proposes to equip and sustain a 
free public school, at least six months of each year, in 
every neighborhood. To this end, a permanent fund has 
been established ; an annual tax is levied ; State, county, 
and district officers are elected ; school-houses are built 
and furnished, and teachers are employed at public ex- 
pense. 

The permanent school fund has been increased from 
one hundred and four thousand dollars to two hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars. From the general school 
fund there have been distributed among the counties, 
during the past year, nearly eight thousand dollars 
more than was distributed in 1872. More than $50,000 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 269 

have been expended in the erection and enlargement 
of school-houses. Thirteen new districts have been 
formed, and thirty-nine additional teachers employed. 
The number of graded schools has been increased. 
The school population is larger by over thirteen hund- 
red children. The reported proportion of the number 
of children enrolled as attendants at school to the 
number enumerated by census marshals, has been in- 
creased from seventy-seven to eighty-four per cent. 
The average amount of tuition furnished, always larger 
than in most other States, has been maintained, and 
its average quality, believed to be always equal to that 
of other States, has been materially improved. Sub- 
joined are principal statistics for 1874: 

AMOUNT IN STATE SCHOOL FUND. 

In State bonds. $104,000 00 

In United States bonds 146,000 00 

Total $250,000 00 

Increase since 1873 146,000 00 

Amount distributed from general school 

fund 30,5 10 79 

Increase 7)897 05 

Amount expended in the several counties 124,301 64 

Increase 25,832 82 

Surplus of school moneys on hand at the 

close of the year 21,879 68 

Total number of children reported as at- 
tending public schools 3.846 



2 yO NEVADA, 

Total number of children reported as at- 
tending private schools 680 

Total number of schools 108 

These schools are so distributed that there is not a 
hamlet so obscure, not a region so remote, but that its 
children may receive the bounty of a free education. 
During the last school year, 1874, the results in attend- 
ance, and every other essential particular, as appears 
from the report of the Superintendent of Public In- 
struction, were unsurpassed by those of any former 
year. 



^tkte lJr\ivei'^ity. 



The State University, as described in section four of 
Article XI of the Constitution of Nevada, "is hereby 
located at the town of Elko, in the State of Nevada, 
provided that the people of said town do, within one 
year from the passage hereof, convey, or cause to be 
conveyed, to the Board of Regents of the State of Ne- 
vada, in trust, for the use and benefit of said Univer- 
sity, title to a tract of land of not less than twenty 
acres, eligibly located within said town, having thereon 
at least one building, furnished and ready for occu- 
pancy, suitable for the uses of a preparatory depart- 
ment of the University, costino^ not less than ^io,coo, 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 27 1 

and adapted to the accommodation of not less than 
one hundred pupils." 

In accordance with the above Act of the Lesfisla- 
ture of 1873, the citizens of Elko deeded the required 
tract of land, and erected a fine building for the pre- 
paratory school. The Regents of the University em- 
ployed D. R. Sessions, Esq., as principal, and the stud- 
ies were commenced in October, 1874, with twelve 
students on the roll. 



C]\xn'clL{ >ikttef^. 



The denominations actively engaged in church work 
in Nevada are the Episcopalians, the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, the Presbyterians, the Congregational- 
ists, the Baptists, the Roman Catholics, and the A/oj'-- 
mons. Subjoined we give particulars of each. 

EPISCOPALIANS. 

One bishop; number of clergymen, 8; number of 
churches, 10; communicants, 268; value of church 
property, ^74,200 ; number of Sabbath-school teach- 
ers, 91 ; Sabbath-school scholars, 1,124. 

P. S. — Since the above was prepared, their elegant 
church in Virginia City was destroyed by fire. The 



272 NEVADA, 

Methodists and Catholics lost their churches on the 
same day, October i8th, 1875. 

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

Ministers, (in connection with the Nevada Confer- 
ence) 18; number of local preachers, 16; number of 
members in full connection, 515; number of proba- 
tioners, 60 ; number of churches, 1 1 ; estimated value 
of church property, ^62,100; number of parsonages, 
16; value, $14,150; number of Sabbath-schools, 20; 
officers and teachers, 149; scholars of all ages, 939. 

PRESBYTERIANS. 

Number of ministers, 4 ; number of churches, 4 ; 
members, 168; estimated value of church property, 
$25,000 ; number of Sabbath-schools, 4 ; number of 
teachers, about 35 ; number of Sabbath-school schol- 
ars, about 400. 

CONGREGATIONALISTS. 

The Congregationalists have but one fold and one 
shepherd in the Silver State. The Congregational 
Church in Reno was organized in January, 1871. 
Number of members, 20 ; Sabbath-schools, i ; number 
of Sabbath-school scholars, 75 ; value of church prop- 
erty $2,500. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 273 



BAPTISTS. 



Number of churches, 3 ; ministers, 3 ; members in 
the State, 74; Sunday-schools, i. The vakie of 
church property at Virginia City is about ^15,000. A 
new church is being erected at Reno, which is fast ap- 
proaching completion ; cost, including lot, about 5^1,500. 

OTHER DENOMINATIONS. 

We have failed to obtain accurate statistics for the 
year ending December 31, 1875, of the following de- 
nominations : Roman Catholics, Liberal Churches, 
and Mormons. 



8ei\evolei\t S^^odi^tior\^. 



ODD FELLOWS. 

The R. W. Grand Lodge, I. O. O. F. of the State of 
Nevada, was organized in January, 1867. A conven- 
tion of Past Grands assembled at Odd Fellows' Hall, 
January 21st, 1867, for the purpose of instituting a 
Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows. R. W. Grand Representative D. Norcross, of 
18 



2 74 NEVADA, 

the Grand Lodge of California, holding a commission 
as D. D. Grand Sire, called the convention to order, 
and appointed P. G. Master J. L. Van Bokkelen to 
examine the P. G.'s present in the P. M. of the Grand 
Lodge Degree. 

From the Grand Secretary's report to the Grand 
Lodge we gather the following synopsis of the con- 
dition of Odd Fellowship in the State for the year 
ending June, 1875. Number of chartered lodges 
in the jurisdiction, twenty-five, with one lodge 
acting under dispensation. Members admitted by 
initiation, 257; admitted by card, 97; reinstated, 20. 
Total, 374. Withdrawn by card, 281 ; ceased member- 
ship, 96; expelled, 9; deceased 19. Total, 405. Total 
membership, 1,943. Membership per last report, 1,974. 
Decrease during the year, 31. This decrease is ac- 
counted for by the withdrawal from this jurisdiction 
of the Utah Lodges, which at last report had 194 
members. Take from the number the apparent de- 
fcrease during the year of 163 members. The relief 
afforded for the same time, from January ist to De- 
cember 31st, 1874, has been sufficient to demonstrate 
the practical benefits arising from the Order. Number 
of brothers relieved, 2or ; number of widowed families 
relieved, 6. Amount paid for relief of brothers, $9,233 ; 
amount paid for relief of widowed families, $633.40 ; 
for burying the dead, $1,671.10; special relief, $724.25. 
Total, $12,261.75. Total amount of annual receipts, 
$55,535.44. The above figures speak volumes for the 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 275 

zeal and liberality of the membership. A comparison 
of the reports to the G. L. U. S. shows that this juris- 
diction, in proportion to its membership, pays larger 
dues and proportionately a greater amount of benefits 
than any other lodge subordinate to the G. L. U. S. 
Of this the I. O. O. F. of Nevada may well be proud, 
for nowhere are dues more cheerfully contributed or 
benefits more lavishly and promptly paid. 

FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS. 

The Grand Lodge was organized in the year 1864. 
Number of lodges in the State, 18. Master Masons, 

1.345. 

There are a number of other secret organizations in 
the State, such as Red Men, Knights of Pythias, Good 
Templars, Sons of Temperance, etc. 



Wkge^. 



So close is the intercourse between the various in- 
stitutions just treated of and the wages men receive 
for their labor, that we cannot do better than conclude 
this chapter with as full and correct a list of the wages 
paid in Nevada as it has been in our power to make. 
As will be apparent from the returns we present, wages 



276 NEVADA, 

are higher in Nevada than in any other State of the 
Union. 

The figures indicate the rates obtaining in Storey 
County — the most active industrial center in the State : 

Superintendents of mines, per.month $300 to $ i ,000 00 

Foremen of mines, per day 6 00 to 10 00 

Underground foremen, per day. ... 5 00 to 6 00 
Miners, (standard) per shift of six, 

eight, and ten hours • 4 00 

Top carmen, per shift of eight and 

ten hours 4 00 

Surface laborers, per day 3 50 

Superintendents of mills, per month 400 to 600 00 

Foremen, per day 6 00 

Amalgamators, per day 4 00 

Tank shovelers, per day 3 50 

Battery feeders, per day 3 5^ 

Laborers around, per day 3 00 

Chief engineers, per day 8 00 to 10 oo 

Engine drivers, per day 5 00 to 6 00 

Firemen, per day 4 00 

Boss carpenters, per day 6 00 to 8 00 

Shop carpenters, per day 5 00 

House carpenters, per day 5 00 

Blacksmiths, per day 5 00 to 6 00 

Strikers, per day „ 4 00 

Moulders, per day 5 50 to 6 00 

Boilermakers, per day 5 00 to 6 00 

Machinists, per day 5 00 to 6 00 

Laborers, per day ■ 3 50 

Teamsters, per month, with board . . 60 00 to 80 00 

Painters, per day 5 00 to 6 00 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 277 

Grainers, per day $7 oo to 8 oo 

Paper-hangers, per day 6 00 

Upholsterers, per day 6 00 

Barbers, per day 6 00 

Bakers, per day 6 00 

Confectioners, per day 6 50 to 7 00 

Cooks, per month 75 00 to 100 00 

Waiters, per month 50 00 

Saloon waiters, per month 50 00 to 60 00 

Board, per week 8 00 

Board and lodging, per week 9 00 to 10 00 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



We here introduce biographical sketches of Sena- 
tors Jones and Sharon, and our only apology for doing 
so, and limiting ourselves to them, is, that they are 
representative men of the Silver State, having been 
made so not only by their personal wealth, but also by 
the voice of the people. 



]Sfevkdh., 



The subject of this sketch was born in the town of 
Hay, Breckonshire, South Wales, in the year 1829. 
His father, with his family, emigrated to the United 
States in the year 1831, and settled in Cleveland, Ohio. 
His boyhood and early youth were spent in Cleveland, 
under the paternal roof, and in the enjoyment of such 



2 8o NEVADA, 

advantages as an intelligent home and the common 
schools of Ohio at that time might afford. By close 
and diligent application to his studies, he was at the 
age of eighteen far in advance of many enjoying 
greater educational advantages. He finished his edu- 
cation at Andrew Freeze's Academy, where he mas- 
tered the English branches, and studied some of the 
modern and ancient classics. 

On the 26th day of September, 1849, he sailed for 
California, in the bark Eiireka, the first and only vessel 
built in Lake Erie which came direct to this coast, arriv- 
ing in the "City of the Golden Gate" on the 17th of 
June, 1850. Soon after his arrival in San Francisco 
he went to the mines, where he remained for years. 
In the mining region he was known as of an active, 
generous, liberal, and social turn, but withal thought- 
ful and studious ; of diligence in the improvement of 
such reading as came within his reach, and of aspira- 
tions for something better than plodding mediocrity. 

His political career began at the outbreak of the 
rebellion. During this time he represented Trinity 
and Shasta Counties in the State Senate, with entire 
satisfaction to his constituents. 

In 1867, he was nominated for Lieutenant-Governor, 
on the Republican ticket, but failed of an election. 

Soon after the defeat of the Republican party in 
1867, he was elected superintendent of the Crown 
Point and Kentuck mines, in Nevada. He accepted 
the position, and made Gold Hill his home, and in 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 261 

January, 1873, he was elevated to the dignity of 
United States Senator. 

When the new Senator from Nevada took his seat, 
for the first time, in the ilkistrious body of which he 
was a member, he was but Kttle known to his present 
official associates, and it is not said that any extrava- 
gant conjectures were indulged in any quarter as to 
his future efficiency and influence. A single masterly 
speech, on " Gold and Currency," attracted the atten- 
tion of the whole nation. All who had the pleasure 
of listening to his speech concur in the opinion that 
it was one of the most sensible, solid, and comprehen- 
sive exposes of the complex fiscal condition of the re- 
public that has yet been made, and the wholesome and 
practical views embodied therein are daily becoming 
more and more popular all over the land. 



Xevkdk 



The subject of this sketch was born on the 9th of 
January, 1821, at Smithfield, Jefferson County, Ohio. 
His father was a substantial farmer, and was a descend- 
ant of some of the earliest Quaker settlers of Penn- 
sylvania. His boyhood and early youth were spent at 



282 NEVADA, 

home, and in the enjoyment of the village school. At 
the age of seventeen the passion for travel came upon 
him. Soon he purchased an interest in a flatboat, and 
started for New Orleans. His experience in this line 
of business was unfortunate, and he returned to his 
home. 

After working for three years on the old homestead, 
in which his father gave him an interest, he entered 
Athens College, where he remained until he was 
twenty-three years of age. About this time he began 
the study of law, reading for the first six months at 
home, and the next six months in the office of Edwin 
M. Stanton, afterwards Secretary of War. Impelled 
thereto by failing health, he went west as far as St. 
Louis, having in his pocket letters of introduction to 
Hon. Edward Bates, of that city. After continuing 
his legal studies for a while longer, he was examined 
by Judge Krum, of St. Louis, and admitted to practice 
in the courts of Missouri. His health remained poor, 
and he was obliged to abandon the pursuit of law 
entirely. 

In 1844, he formed a mercantile partnership with 
his brother, Dr. John K. Sharon, and settled at Car- 
rolton, Illinois. He remained there until the first 
hectic flush of the California goJd fever appeared, in 
1848. 

Early in the spring of 1849, he started for California, 
across the plains, stopping for a while at Salt Lake City. 
In August of the same year he arrived at Sacramento, 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 283 

and immediately purchased a stock of goods and com- 
menced business. The floods of 1849 and 1850 swept 
away his place of business, but did not ruin him en- 
tirely. In 1850, he came and settled in the city by 
the Golden Gate, and began buying and selling real 
estate. Since his first arrival in San Francisco, he has 
been thoroughly identified with the interests of the 
city. He continued in the real estate business until 
1864, at which time he had accumulated some 
^150,000. In the same year, 1864, the Board of 
Brokers was organized in San Francisco. Mr. Sharon 
became a speculator in stocks, and in six months had 
lost all the property he had spent so many years in 
acquiring. 

Soon after his serious loss of property, he asked em- 
ployment of the Bank of California, and was sent to 
Virginia City, Nevada, to adjust some outstanding 
claims for that institution. He afterwards suggested 
to the bank that an agency, or branch, should be estab- 
lished there. This was done, and he was placed at its 
head. He held this important position for many years, 
with credit to himself and immense profit to the parent 
house in San Francisco. 

Mr. Sharon is recognized as a man of strong com- 
mon sense, possessing more than the average of nat- 
ural ability. The construction of the Truckee and 
Virginia Railroad well illustrates his business tact and 
sound judgment. The mills and hoisting works in 
and about the Comstock consume an immense amount 



284 NEVADA, 

of wood. This was hauled by wagons to Virginia, and 
was a large item in the running expenses of the mines. 
He saw at a glance that the transportation of the wood 
would more than pay the expenses of operating the 
road. He also saw that a large source of revenue 
would be derived from the carrying of ore from the 
mines to the mills on the Carson River. He secured 
a subsidy of $500,000 in aid of the road, constructed 
as much as the $500,000 paid for, then mortgaged the 
entire road for the amount necessary for its comple- 
tion. In this way the road was built without costing 
Mr. Sharon a cent, and he still remains the owner of 
one-half of the road, and rates his interest at $2,500,000. 
His success as a business man is due mainly to his tact 
and excellent management. He is quick to perceive, 
and as quick to act. He never gives advice unless 
he means it, and none can complain of his using them 
as means to his own advancement, financially or 
otherwise. 

Mr. Sharon is largely identified with the prosperity 
of San Francisco, owning the Cosmopolitan Hotel and 
other valuable pieces of property, as well as the Palace 
Hotel, probably the largest and grandest hotel in the 
world. This magnificent building sprang into exist- 
ence in the short space of eighteen months, and con- 
sumed in its building and furnishing the sum of 
$3,500,000. Mr. Sharon is also connected with the 
building up of a new town on the Poet Tract, in San 
Mateo County. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 285 

His important private enterprises have kept him 
much out of the field of active poHtics. He was 
elected to the city council of San Francisco in 1851, 
at a time when the city had large landed interests at 
stake. 

In 1856, he assisted in organizing the Republican 
party, and was active in support of the Union cause 
during the rebellion. He purchased the first seven per 
cent. United States bonds offered in this market, con- 
trary to the advice of many, who prophesied that they 
would never be paid. 

On the 22d of January, 1874, the Nevada Legisla- 
ture elected him to represent the State in the high- 
est councils of the nation. 

At the time of the suspension of the Bank of Cali- 
fornia, in August, 1875, Mr. Sharon, with a generosity 
which will remain fresh in the memory of this people, 
promptly threw himself into the breach, saying " he 
would sacrifice every dollar of his wealth rather than 
see the memory of his friend Ralston tarnished."' 
Through his energy and perseverance, in a great 
measure, the resuscitation of this grandest of California 
banking institutions was carried to its happy and suc- 
cessful issue. If we may judge from his past suc- 
cessful life, we predict for him a bright and brilliant 
future as a Senator. 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 



The following reports came to hand too late to be 
inserted in their proper places, and as they are of spe- 
cial interest, we give them here. 



dklifoi^rii^. 



The annual report of the California Mining Com- 
pany for the year ending January i8th, 1876, is as 
follows : 

superintendent's report. 

During the past year the mine has been prospected 
as follows : 

On the 1,300-foot level a drift has been run from our 
southern to our northern boundary, west of the ore- 
vein, connecting with the openings of the Ophir mine. 
19 



290 NEVADA, 

Crosscut No. i has been run east 213 feet on the 
southern boundary to the pre-vein. This drift has been 
extended north in the ore -vein 100 feet, connecting 
with the winze sunk in the ore-body, to the 1,400-foot 
level. The ore found thus far on this (1,300-foot) level 
has been of moderate quality, but that found in sink- 
ing the winze has been good from level to level. 

On the 1,400-foot level a drift has been run west of 
the ore-vein the whole length of the mine, connecting 
with the Ophir mine on the north. Crosscuts Nos. i, 
2, and 3 have also been extended from this drift across 
the ore vein. 

A lateral drift has also been run north from our 
southern boundary, in the ore -vein, 560 feet, and will 
soon be connected with the workings of the Ophir 
mine. A large amount of valuable ore is already devel- 
oped on this level, but it is less regular than on the 
levels below. 

On the 1,500-foot level a drift has been run from our 
southern to our northern boundary, west of the ore-vein. 
Crosscuts have been run from this drift 100 feet apart, 
making six in all. The ore thus developed shows a 
width of from 75 to 208 feet. Crosscuts Nos. i and 2 
have crossed the ore-vein. Crosscuts Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 
6 have not yet been extended across the ore -vein, and 
its width is yet unknown. A lateral drift has been run 
in the ore-vein from the southern to the northern 
boundary, crossing all of these crosscuts and intercept- 
ing the openings of the Ophir mine. The ore passed 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 29 1 

through the entire length of this drift, except the north- 
ern 70 feet, has been of exceedingly high grade, assaying 
for weeks, during its construction, a thousand dollars 
($1,000) per ton. Three double winzes have been 
raised in the ore-body from this level in crosscuts Nos. 
1,2, and 3 to the 1,400-foot level, all passing through 
ore of excellent quality. 

Four winzes have also been sunk from the lateral 
drift in crosscuts Nos. i, 2, 3, and 5, to the 1,550-foot 
level, all of them passing through ore of high grade 
the whole distance. The developments on this level 
disclose a very large amount of exceedingly rich ore. 

On the 1,550-foot level, the main drift has been ex- 
tended north 400 feet from our southern boundary to 
crosscut No. 5, in the ore-body, passing through ex- 
ceedingly rich ore, and the face of this drift is yet in 
ore of this quahty. This main drift intersects all of 
the winzes sunk from the 1,500-foot level. In cross- 
cut No. I, the ore-body has been developed to a width 
of 130 feet, and the ore-vein is not yet crossed. 

Crosscut No. 3 has been extended sixty-five feet, and 
neither east nor west walls have yet been reached. 

Crosscut No. 5 has been developed seventy-five feet, 
and both ends of the drift are in high-grade ore, as 
neither the east nor west walls have yet been reached. 

Between crosscuts Nos. 2 and 3 a double winze has 
been sunk to the depth of 128 feet, through ore of ex- 
cellent quality the entire distance, and terminates in 
ore of the same richness. Another winze has been 



292 NEVADA, 

sunk 320 feet south of our southern boundary to a 
depth of 147 feet. No crosscuts have been run from 
the bottom of these winzes. The developments made 
by these winzes prove the continuity at these lower 
depths of the same ore-body which exists on the levels 
above, with an appreciation in the quality of the ore 
which must be of great width. 

The sinking of these winzes has been temporarily 
discontinued on account of the increase of water and 
our limited means of hoisting. This difficulty will 
soon be obviated by the drift that is being run on the 
1,700-foot level of the Consolidated Virginia mine. 

This level is but partially explored. The ore found 
is of better quality than that on the levels above,, and 
I have no doubt but that the ore-body is of much 
greater width. 

My efforts, the past year, have been to open the 
mine as thoroughly as possible on all of the levels, 
and, at the same time, to take out as little ore as pos- 
sible. 

The ore thus removed (5,123 4-5 tons) has been 
daily hoisted, weighed, assayed, and passed to our 
credit by the Consolidated Virginia mine, we not then 
having the mills to reduce it. 

All of our levels are connected with the Consoli- 
dated Virginia mine on the south, and with the Ophir 
mine on the north ; also by the various winzes referred 
to, which thoroughly ventilate the mine, and make it 
cool and pleasant. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 



-VO 



At the C. & C. shaft, buildings complete in every 
respect have been erected, and machinery for pump- 
ing and hoisting has been put in place, and is now in 
full operation. In addition to the main building there 
is a blacksmith-shop, a rope-house, two large carpenter- 
shops, and one machine-shop. The carpenter-shops 
are supplied each with an engine and machinery — one 
of these shops being intended for the use of the Con- 
solidated Virginia mine, and the other for the Califor- 
nia mine. 

The machine-shop is fitted up with engines, lathes, 
tools, etc., one side of which is for the use of the Con- 
solidated Virginia mine, and the other side for the 
California mine. For security against all fires, the 
works are surrounded by hydrants, with a good supply 
of fire-hose ; and there is an ample supply of water 
under a very heavy pressure. 

A large area of ground immediately surrounding 
the site of this shaft has been secured, having been 
purchased at a heavy outlay. 

This shaft is situated 1,040 feet east of the Consoli- 
dated Virginia shaft. 

It is now sunk with three compartments to the 
depth of 988 feet. The cost of this joint shaft to 
January ist, 1876, was $436,183.13. 

A drift is now being run east from the 1,500-foot 
level of the mine, which will connect with the C. & C. 
shaft. 

It will reach that shaft and be in readiness for the 



2 94 NEVADA, 

transportation of ore as soon as the shaft is sunk to 
that depth. 

Two hundred and eighty-eight (288) feet remain to 
be sunk to reach this drift. 

After this connection is made with the C. & C. shaft, 
I feel safe in saying that our hoisting capacity will be 
2,000 tons per day, and as to the supply of ore, we have 
now in sight in the mine a sufficient quantity to last 
for a long period, 

secretary's report — RECEIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS FOR 
THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JANUARY i8tH, 1876. 

Receipts : 
Amount due from Virginia office, last 

statement, since paid $1,113 74 

Amount due from Bank of California, 

last statement, since paid 574 12 

Amount received January i8th, 1876, 

from sale of ore 453,060 46 

Nevada Bank, overdraft 28,247 yj 



>2,996 09 

Disbursements : 

J. C. Flood, amount due him, since paid $80,500 00 

Freight 220 10 

Expenses 475^ 42 

Advertising loi 25 

Books and stationery I1254 90 

Salaries and wages . .^ 87,473 50 

Carried forward , . , $1 74,306 1 7 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 295 



Brought fonyard $i 74,306 1 7 

Supplies 1 2,745 56 

Title 25,000 00 

Hoisting 2,68 1 50 

Contribution 500 00 

Virginia office expenses 210 60 

Interest and exchange 37^35^ 59 

Sutro Committee 129 00 

Survey 600 00 

Taxes ' ^77 75 

Legal expenses 10,950 00 

C. & C. shaft 218,091 62 

Cash on hand 147 30 

$482,996 09 

REPORT OF PROF. R. E. ROGERS TO THE DIRECTOR OF 
U. S. MINTS, ON THE CONSOLIDATED VIRGINIA AND 
CALIFORNIA MINES, NOVEMBER I5TH, 1 875. 

Sir : In compliance with your request of Novem- 
ber ist, 1875, that I would furnish you with a report 
of my examination of the Consolidated Virginia and 
California mines, on the Comstock Lode, at Virginia 
City, Storey County, Nevada, with my conclusions as 
to their probable total yield of gold and silver, based 
upon their present explored extent, and the quality of 
their ores as ascertained by assays, I would respect- 
fully make the following statement : 

My explorations through these mines were accom- 
plished during two prolonged visits, made on separate 



290 NEVADA, 

days ; one in company with yourself, and the other 
under the guidance of the superintendent. This was 
a work not merely of a general or superficial charac- 
ter, but of careful and laborious investigation, in which 
all the galleries and crosscuts on the different accessi- 
ble levels were critically inspected and scrutinized, 
with reference to the body of ore that might be within 
view, and its appearance in point of quality. 

Having an attendant along who carried bags for 
their reception, I gathered at frequent intervals, and 
labeled them, an extensive collection of specimens for 
assays. 

The following brief description of the position of 
these mines, which lie in the same general line of ore- 
body that constitutes what is commonly known as the 
Comstock Lode, may aid the mind in forming a bet- 
ter idea of their nature, and will serve to explain the 
principles which have guided the engineers and super- 
intendent in laying off the work for exploring their ex- 
tent and mining the ore. 

The surface of the whole country around Virginia 
City is rough, broken, and hilly. At this immediate 
locality there is a long, lofty range extension of the 
Washoe mountains, at places many hundred feet in ele- 
vation above the plain, whose steep slope to the valley 
below faces toward the east, and whose general trend 
is north and south. About midway up the slope, the 
croppings of the ore of these and of many other mines 
of the lode are visible. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 297 

The first excavations which were made in the early 
workings here were upon these croppings, but in due 
time it was discovered that the ore-body dipped toward 
the east, in a measure parallel with the surface of the 
mountain side, though having no physical nor geologi- 
cal relation to that superficial outline. As a conse- 
quence of this discovery, the present shaft, known as 
that of the Consolidated Virginia mine, was sunk at a 
point down the slope, many hundred feet to the east of 
its outcroppings. 

It is from thi? shaft that all the ore from the Con- 
solidated Virginia and California mines has been 
lifted, until the recent fire, which destroyed the hoist- 
ing machinery. 

The slope of the ore-body of these mines is from 
40° to 47° toward the east, and its trend or line of 
length .is nearly north and south, or in the direction of 
the line of the containing mountain-like range. 

This being the relative position of the vertical shaft 
to the sloping body of ore, it is evident that no ore 
would be looked for in the descent until several hund- 
red feet had been reached. In point of fact, 1,300 feet 
of rock were passed through before any horizontal 
drifting was done to intercept the ore. 

Ore of profitable richness having been met with at 
this level, (the 1,300-foot level, as it is called) the shaft 
was sunk to the depth of one hundred feet more, and 
a similar horizontal drift run in to test the continuance 
of the ore. Finding that the ore-body on this (the 



298 NEVADA, 

1,400-foot) level was undiminished in abundance, and 
richer than that on the 1,300-foot level, the shaft was 
carried down a second hundred feet, with a view to ex- 
plore a 1,500-foot level ; and finally, under the encour- 
agement afforded in every successive foot of descent, 
a double winze has been put down recently in the 
California mine, to a depth of 1 10 feet below the 1,550- 
foot level. 

The shafts having been sunk successfully to the 
depths here indicated, the principle adopted for ex- 
ploring and probing the extent of Cre on each level 
was to run galleries and crosscuts. The extent to 
which this judicious system has been carried is in- 
dicated on the four certified maps of the workings of 
these mines, accompanying the statement furnished to 
you by James G. Fair, superintendent of the two 
mines. 

In the brief narrative of the progressive develop- 
ment of the mines above given, it is seen that by this 
only safe and satisfactory mode of testing the length, 
depth, and width of the ore-body, it has been rendered 
possible to block out, in cubes of a hundred square feet 
each, the metal-bearing mass, so far as penetrated to 
view, and to thus reach an approximate estimate of the 
probable aggregate ultimate product of gold and silver 
from these mines. 

Since the maps are constructed to a scale, they 
exhibit quite clearly the quantity of ore that has been 
removed from the mines, relatively to the amount that 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 299 

remains untouched, assuming that the system of cross- 
cuts which penetrates the ore-body gives correct data 
for such conclusion. 

In speaking of these mines, they have been referred 
to here in language common to both. The line which 
divides them is only a property boundary, there being 
two companies, but under one management. The ore 
is of the same character, and the east and west walls 
identical for them both. 

The claim of the Consolidated Virginia mine is 710 
feet long, and that of the California mine is 600 feet. 
The explored width of the ore-mass on the 1,500-foot 
level averages 250 feet. . 

The west boundary wall is that of the mountain 
rock, syenite. The east boundary, which can be scarcely 
termed a wall, is ferruginous clay. 

The ore-body itself consists of a semi-crystalline, 
somewhat granular matrix of quartz, sometimes com- 
pact, but more commonly friable and easily crushed, 
crossed and coated over with whitish clay, containing 
the precious metals associated with several of the base 
metals, and a variety of other substances. 

The nodular and rocky masses scattered through 
the lode — at times of magnitude to form what is termed 
a " horse " — is a potash feldspar, and named by the 
miners porphyry. 

The following may be stated as the composition of 
the ore-mass : 



300 NEVADA, 

. Quartz, the largest constituent, constituting the 
matrix or " gangue." 

Gold, metallic. 

Silver, metallic. 

Silverglance, or sulphite of silver. 

Polybasite (silver, copper, iron, zinc, antimony, 
arsenic, sulphur). 

Stephenite (silver, copper, iron, antimony, sulphur). 

Blende (zinc, sulphur). 

Galena (silver, lead, sulphur). 

Horn silver in small amount (silver chlorine). 

Alumina (as clay). 

Carbonate of lime. 

Sulphate of lime. 

In this ore the gold is in the metallic state. The 
silver is metallic, and also as sulphide and chloride, 
and likewise in the complex mineral forms above 
named. 

The iron, copper, lead, zinc, antimony, and arsenic 
are in a condition of combination with sulphur, as sul- 
phides of those metals. 

The silica and clay are simply in mechanical asso- 
ciation with the above. 

At the works of the mines, as well as at the mills, 
all the ore delivered is sampled as fairly as possible, 
that the averages may be obtained for assays, for the 
purpose of adjusting the accounts between the mines 
and the mills. 

With the data in our possession, and the maps be- 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 3OI 

fore US, I may venture upon the following calculations, 
and estimate the total ultimate product of the gold and 
silver of the ore-body of these two mines. 

On an inspection of the official surveys exhibiting 
the galleries and crosscuts, it would seem fair to con- 
clude that, with proper allowances, the ore-body equals 
an amount which, taken at the actual assays, would 
give as the ultimate yield of the two mines $300,000,000 ; 
but to guard against a chance of over-estimating, I take 
the assays at one-half that ascertained, which will place 
the production at not less than $150,000,000. 

With a view to make due allowance for interruptions 
to the continuity of the body of ore which lies between 
the 1,500 and 1,400-foot levels, the whole of the ore 
contained between the 1,400 and 1,300-foot levels is 
thrown in, and not embraced in the estimate. It may 
also be stated that the very promising ore develop- 
ments below the 1,550-foot level, the assays of which 
run very high, have also been omitted in the calcula- 
tions. 



8elcli 



er, 



From the annual report of the Secretary, for the year 
ending January 24th, 1876, we select the following 
items: 



302 NEVADA, 

The receipts from bullion for the year 1875 were 
$3,383,874. Disbursements, $2,846,718, exclusive of a 
dividend of $312,000 paid in January, 1875. Cash on 
hand on the ist of January, 1876, $478,712, against 
$242,079 a year ago. There were 34,117 tons of ore 
worked, averaging $28.43 P^^ ton. 



dki'^oi\ ]V[ir\t. 



From the report of Dr. Linderman, Director of U. S. 
Mints, we present the following statement of the op- 
erations of the Carson Mint for the fiscal year ending- 
June, 1875: 

Gold and silver of domestic production 

deposited $5.570'968 32 

Gold coinao^e : 

98,497 double eagles. . .$1,969,940 

1 1,924 eagles. 1 19,240 

20,000 half eagles 101,915 

130,804 pieces, valued at 2,191,095 00 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 303 



Silver coinage 



1,841,700 trade dollars ^1,841,700 

334,000 half-dollars 167,000 

1,316 twenty-cent pieces 658 

885,000 dimes 88,500 



3,062,016 pieces, valued at 2,097,858 00 

Gold bars manufactured : 

Fine bars $83,376 61 

Silver bars manufactured : 

Fine bars $344,728 10 

Unparted bars. 798,821 70 

Total silver 1,143,549 80 



Total: gold and silver $1,226,926 41 



Reveille f)Wi6t. 



This district is located in Nye County, 135 miles 
south of Eureka, and about seventy miles southeast of 
Belmont. There are a number of promising mines in 
this district. 

THE GILA MINE. 

The lode, of which the Gila claim forms a longitu- 
dinal section, courses along the easterly slope of the 



304 NEVADA, 

Reveille Mountains in a generally north and south di- 
rection. It consists of a well-defined belt of quartzite, 
much of it nearly pure quartz, being composed of sev- 
enty or eighty per cent, of silica, and highly crystal- 
lized. This lode has an average thickness of 150 feet, 
inclines to the east at an angle of sixty degrees, and 
is enclosed between porphyry on the east and a sien- 
itic formation and porphyry on the west, the vein mat- 
ter being separated from the country rock by the usual 
clay partings. The Gila location embraces an extent 
of 1,200 linear feet, running with the course of the 
ledge. 

This mine has been developed to a vertical depth of 
240 feet. Average of all ore worked was $204 per ton, 
and tailings re- worked $100 per ton for all that went 
under the stamps. This valuable mine has already 
paid two dividends of ^25,000 each, in August and 
September, 1875. No assessment has ever been lev- 
ied upon the capital stock of the company, and in all 
probability never will. Number of shares, 100,000. 
Amount of dividends paid to January ist, 1876, 
$50,000. Total amount of bullion produced to Febru- 
ary ist, 1876, $283,578.57. 



THE LAND OF SILVER. 305 



^ybo ©i^tridt, Xye Cioui)ty. 



THE TYBO CONSOLIDATED COMPANY. 

Situate lOO miles south of Eureka District, thirty- 
five miles east of Belmont, and thirty-five miles north 
of Reveille District. The above company have pur- 
chased a number of mines, which they have incor- 
porated into one company. The only mineral con- 
tained in the lodes of this district is argentiferous 
and auriferous lead ore, more or less decomposed. 
The veins in this district are very regular and well 
defined, and will average from two to twenty feet in 
width. There are two furnaces now at work here 
smelting some eighty tons of ore per day, which 
gives ten tons of crude bullion, averaging ^500 in 
silver and $50 in gold per ton. Expenses and other 
details are much the same as at Eureka. This camp 
has a very promising future. Lead bullion produced 
to February ist, 1876, valued in silver and gold, $315,- 
000. Lead, ^47,400. Total, $361,400. 



Note. — We desire to make especial acknowledgment 
to the proprietors of the Union Iron Works, San Fran- 
cisco, Prescott, Scott & Co., for their kindness in fur- 
nishing the finely finished and accurate wood-cuts 
contained in this work. This is one of the leading iron 
works west of the Rocky Mountains. 



SHERMAN & HYDE, 

MUSIC DEALEES, 

Si?LN FIlA.N"CISCO. 




What the Great Musicians say of them : 

M T T ^ ^ O l\r ^ shall take every opportuBity to recommend and praise your in- 

T^ t:;' T T r^r^ C* For the last six years your Pianos have been my choice for the 
■•^ J— < J_j J-/ V^ \_J vjr. Concert room, and my own house. 

p A 'T"'P T I have iised the Pianos of every celebrated maker, but give yours the 
•f •^*- -^ II. preference over all. 

C'T'T) A TTCC Your Pianos astonish me ; I assure you that I have never yet seen 
'-' ■*- ■I>--'i- ^J vJO. any Pianos which equal yours. 

'VIT 'p T_r T T Madame Parepa called your pianos the finest in the United States. I 

VV H, rj. L-i 1. <■ fully indorse " that opinion. They have no " rival anywhere." 

TV/r T T T C Amongst the many excellent Pianos made in this city, the Weber ranks 
-'■•■ J. i-j -L'vJ . foremost . 

T \1 C^C^ A Your Uprights are extraordinary instruments, and deserve great success. 

IVT T T R S K" A Your instruments surpass my expectations, and I rank you justly as 

IVl \^ IVOIviT.. tjjg foremost manufacturer of the day. 

^/^■r~\'n\ A T> 'P) Your Instruments have no "superior" anywhere. I certainly 
^~^^~-^ i-^ i~^ -i^i^i-^' have not seen any Pianos in America which approach them 

even. 
(""ARRT^TNTO ^ ^™ ^°^ surprised that every great artist prefers the Weber 
^-'*- •'^■'•^■^ ■'■^ ^^' Pianos ; they are truly " noble " instruments, and " meet every 

requirement of the most exacting artist." 
TV/r A T J T? T7 T I readily award the Weber Piano the title " par excellence." 

T~\T7T P T T p* TV T^ T7 Thetoneof your instrument is sopure, and of such depth, 
-'-^ -'-'•'-' ■'■ '->'■•—'■'• N X J-». I am charmed beyond measure. 

lyr T J 7 T (~) I consider the Weber Pianos the best in the world. 

■p T) T Q T^ O WF '"^^ ™® *^® Weber Piano contains everything that can be wished for 

-'-' -'■^ ■'■ "^ 1 vy VV . in an instrument. 

("* A R V "'■ ^^®^ ^^^^ every one is fortunate who owns a Weber Piano. 

C A TVT P A 1\J T M T "^^^ Weber Pianos sustain the voice in a wonderful degree, 
^^■'*- ^^^ -'• -'*■ •'■^ AIM 1 . and they have my unqualified admiration. 

(""APOTTT ^ recommend the Weber Pianos in the highest terms, and especially 

^<--t^I- ^^ ^ i--'. for the voice. 

"PQ O T? T A ]SJ T Yours is truly the " Artist's Piano." 

ALSO, AGENTS FOR THE 

STANDAED ORGANS. 



SEND FOR CIRCULARS AND PRICE LISTS TO 

SHERjMAN & HYDE, 

Cor. Kearny and Sutter Sts., SAN FRANCISCO. 



THE 

ft 

\ji\ior\ Ifoi\ Wofk^, 

PRESCOTT, SCOTT & CO. 

From whom the wood-cuts contained in this volume were obtained, 

OCCUPY THE LEADING POSITION AS MANUFACTURERS OF 

IVIILLING, PUMPING, AND HOISTING 

MA.OHINEBY. 

And through their efforts, the principal improvements in, and 
great perfection of, our machinery on the Comstock Lode is due. 

They have introduced Direct-acting Hoisting En- 
gines, Direct-acting Pumping Engines, with Davey's 
Differental Valve Motion, Cut Gearing, Balanced Pop- 
pett Valves, and the Circular Center Braced Engine 
Beds. The Improved Air Compressor, so extensively 
used on the leading mines. In milling, they have in- 
troduced Grizzley's Self Feeders and Automatic 
Quicksilver Strainers ; and the handling of Amalgam 
and Quicksilver entirely by machinery, the successful 
use of which in the Consolidated and California mills 
have made them famous as the most complete mills in 
the world. 



Bacon & Company, 

CORNER CLAY AND SANSOME STREETS, 

ARE PREPARED TO FLRNISH 

Labels, Deeds, 
Sermons, Drafts, 
Tax Lists, Leases, 

- Shop Bills, Circulars, t^ 

^ Catalogues, Transfers, ^ 

K^ Jfeiuspapers, Bill Heads, " 

^ Flock Cards, Ball Cards, ^ 

CO Concert Bills, BlanhJfotes, ^ 

Road J^otices, Bills Lading, 

U School Reports, Prices Curreivt, <! 

^ Concert Tickets, Deposit Checks, W 

CO Festival Tickets, Wedding Cards, ^ 

T^ Railroad Tickets, Shipping Receipts, ^ 

Q^ Excursion Tickets, Lnsurance Policies, kh 

<I^ Tags of eveinj style. Certificates of Stock, m 

Apothecaries' Labels, Certificates of Deposit, h> 

^ Orders of Exercises, Bills of Exchange, (J) 

<C Reivards of Merit, Railroad Receipts, O 

Omnibus Tickets, Letter Headings, ^ 

JZ; Din/ Goods Tags, Express Orders, ^ 

^~' Lecture Tickets, Business Cards, S 

Q School Records, J^ote Headings, ^ 
r^ Town Reports, Visiting Cards, 

^ Bills of Fare, Bank Xotices, ^ 

^ Show Cards, Check Books, ^ 

►-H Wood Cuts, Stock Lists, q 

^ Pamphlets, Way Bills, ' fjj 

Magazines, Envelopes, CO 
Tax Bills, Billets, 
Lectures, Bonds, 
Books. Briefs. 

Orders from all parts of the Coast will receive 
prompt attention. 



CL, 



THOMAS PRICE, 




1 id MeMifi 




AND 

ASSAY OFFICE, 

Sacramento St., N. W. cor. Liedesdorff, 

(The old office of the Pacific Mail Company) 



FOR THE ANALYSES OF 



Ofe^, >iii\ei^kl^, JVCetkl^, Wktef 



AND 



TECHNICAL PRODUCTS. 



j|@=" Special attention given to the application of 
Chemistry in all its branches. 



COLUMBIA FOUNDRY. 



REESE LLEWELLYN, 



MANUFACTURER OF 



CASTINGS OF ALL KINDS. 

138 and 135 BEi^^LE ST. 

SAN FRANCISCO. 



The substantial and elegant fronts, as well as the artificial and ornamental 
castings for the SAFE DEPOSIT COMPANY, corner Montgomery and Cali- 
fornia Streets, San Francisco, were manufactured in this establishment. 

ORDERS PROMPTLY FILLED AT LOWEST PRICES. 
GOOD WORK GUARANTEED. 



IRA. P. RANKIN. ESTABLISHED 18S1. A. P. BRAYTON. 

THE 

Pacific Iron Works, 

FIRST STREET, 

SAN FRANCISCO. 



MANUFACTURERS OF 



Steam Engines, Boilers, 

AND EVERY VARIETY OF 

MILL MACHINERY, PXJMPI53G 

AND 

HOISTING WORKS, ETC. 

GODDARD & CO. 

GEO. W. FOGG, Supt. 



A. CAMERON. G. L. HULL 

CAMERON & HULL, 

WOOD TURNERS, 

D. A. MacDonald & Co.'s Mills, 
217 SPEAR ST., Between Howard and Folsom, 

And 409 MISSION ST., SAN FRANCISCO. 



< »»»■ > 



COLUMNS, NEWELS, BALUSTERS, TEN-PIN BALLS, 

Billiard Balls and Brackets. 

DESIGNS FOR ALL KINDS OF SCROLL-SAWINa. 

Cabinet and Sh-ip Turning done to order- 

—ALSO,— 

IRREGULAR MOULDINGS. 



DAILY STOCK REPORT 

(Issued daily, Sundays excepted.) 

^tkqdkfd Miiliil^ M^ ^todk Joui'i|kl of tl\e Pkdifid do^t. 

Devotes more space to Mining Matters than any other paper in America. 
Mining Companies Supplied. 



The Summary of Mining Newsin tlie Daily Stock Keport is Elaborate and Compreliensive. 
OFFICE, 608 SACRAMENTO STREET. 



IRRIGATION. 



If jfoti ever intend buifhiff a 'Wiml Mill, examine the record of the celebrated 
ECIjII'SE — Been tested eight years — Solid wheel, self regulator, no joints or sections, 
■wrought iron tail bar, auti-friction rollers. Pittmau finished, similar to a pump cylinder; 
will not wear or jerk the mill in heavy pumping. Cannot freeze in winter. Every mill 
warranted. A 10-foot Eclipse Mill will water 250 head of stock. Onli/ S cents a day 
to Water Stock, Send for Circulars. Second-hand Steam Engines cheap. 

CHAS. P. HOAG, 

118 Beale Street, SAN FRANCISCO. 



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